


Protective Custody

by cousinD



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Adoption, Anorexia, Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Asexuality, Ash Lynx Lives, Ash Lynx Loves Okumura Eiji, Ash Lynx Needs A Hug, Awesome Phil Coulson, Crime, Crossover, Eating Disorders, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, Family Fluff, Family Issues, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, Insecurity, Max is a great dad, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Sexual Abuse, Phil loves his Avengers, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Ash Lynx, Protective Max, Protective Phil Coulson, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery, References to Drugs, Team as Family, Underage Drinking, teddy bear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:29:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 46
Words: 300,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22948597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cousinD/pseuds/cousinD
Summary: A vile crime left behind only one witness able to testify against the monsters responsible. The monsters were powerful and ruthless, desperate to silence the witness. Phil and his Avengers weren’t about to let that happen.
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Comments: 602
Kudos: 642





	1. Club Cod

This is a crossover between The Avengers and Banana Fish

Protective Custody

Chapter 1: Club Cod

On a warm spring morning, three months after Phil Coulson had moved into The Avenger’s Tower with the rest of his team, Phil woke early. It was his habit to get up well before the crack of dawn and one he hadn’t broken since accepting Tony Stark’s generous offer of a home in the gargantuan tower he’d named Avenger’s Tower. In his apartment in the tower, Phil yawned and rolled over enough to look out the window at the night cityscape of New York City. The light from the city sadly blocked the view of the stars. After a time of idleness (five minutes, exactly) Phil got up and dressed.

“J.A.R.V.I.S.,” Phil spoke outloud to the seemingly empty room. “What time is it, please?”

“The time is 4:05 a.m., Phil. Good morning.” The disembodied voice of J.A.R.V.I.S., the artificial intelligence created by Tony Stark, was calm and spoke with a sort of primness. As a computer program, J.A.R.V.I.S. had no physical body, but lived as part of the tower itself. He was everywhere, in every machine, every computer. He could operate the lights, the elevators, the coffee machine, and even open and close windows. Aside from J.A.R.V.I.S.’ God-like power within Avenger’s Tower, he was also intelligent, helpful, kind, fiercely loyal, and considerate of others. Truly, J.A.R.V.I.S. was Tony’s masterpiece creation, but he was also an admirable person.

“Good morning, J.A.R.V.I.S.”

Phil was a creature of habit and started his day as he’d always started every day. He dressed very carefully, making sure his tie was correctly knotted and his clothes were all neatly pressed. Then, without further delay, he sat at the desk next to his bed and started his computer. There was work to do. His email inbox was filled. Some of the messages were on the less important side (George in the legal department was having a birthday. Did anyone else want to sign the card?) and more important (“Agent Coulson, if I don’t get some help with him, I swear I’ll strangle my asset!”) Phil made a note to call Agent Brown, a very competent but inexperienced handler with S.H.I.E.L.D. who would be thankful for a little advice. As Phil was the senior handler at S.H.I.E.L.D. and was responsible for the well-being of The Avengers, he was often sought out by younger handlers for advice and he was happy to give it. There was other work to be done - he was a perpetually busy man - and before long he was lost in a world of paperwork.

“Phil,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

“Yes?”

“Everyone has gathered for breakfast if you would care to join them.”

“Everyone?”

“Everyone. Sir has emerged from his science stupor and Bruce has been lured out of his apartment by the smell of maple syrup. Natasha and Clint are playing solitaire together.”

“Together? They’re playing solitaire together?”

“Naturally. And Steve is trying to decide how much to eat. I don’t believe he will eat until everyone is present. You know he dislikes thinking anyone will go hungry.”

And that was the truth. Steve Rogers had grown up in the Great Depression and there had never been enough food to go around. As a result, he’d always been conscious about how much food was available and making sure everyone had something. When he’d woken in the modern age from his long, icy sleep, he hadn’t broken the habit. The enhancements that had been done to his body had increased his need for food and he feared that he would eat too much and leave someone hungry. So he simply didn’t eat until he saw that everyone else had enough.

Phil went to common room, a room specifically designed to let everyone gather together in comfort. It was a large, open area that held a kitchen and a family room filled with couches, chairs, a thick carpet, a television, a radio, and anything else anyone could think of to make the space homey. There were several full bookshelves and a shelf filled with board games. Huge windows looked out onto the city. The common room was shared by everyone, but Tony, generous to a fault once he’d found people he could trust, had gone so far as to give everyone an expansive suite of rooms for their personal use. Tony had been so happy to give the rooms away, which was curious as Tony was a man so accustomed to solitude that he could often go for weeks without interacting with humans so long as he had his work. Still, he had happily offered them all a place to live after the fighting was over and done with and they’d had a quiet moment.

“Living at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters can’t be fun,” Tony had said to them when Natasha had suspiciously asked about his motives for offering everyone a home.

“I get a room,” Natasha had pointed out. “My needs are met.”

“Yeah. Well. You don’t have to stay here, if you don’t want to.” Tony had turned away from them all, making a point of putting his focus on his computer. “It was just an idea. I think this is a nice place to live.”

Clint had put both hands out in front of him, making pacifying gestures. “Now, don’t be hasty. She didn’t refuse, she just wants to know why. What’s the catch?”

Tony blinked and looked completely baffled. “Huh?”

“What’s the rent? S.H.I.E.L.D. pays pretty well, but,” he looked around at the expensive little world Tony had built for himself. “I don’t think I could rent something here.”

Still, Tony kept frowning . He’d looked at Phil. “Rent? What? I didn’t ask for money? Do I look like I need money? I just said you could live here. Don’t have to. I’m not good company. Probably rotten company, really. As soon as I get in my lab, I might forget you’re here.” He hesitated, then added, “But I’ve got a gym you can use and there’s lots of privacy. J.A.R.V.I.S. won’t let anyone in we don’t want here.” He gave a self-conscious little shrug. “Plenty of food and... well... I’ve got extra room. This place is huge.”

Phil, standing at the back of the room and observing the conversation, felt a pain in his heart for Tony. He had the sudden understanding that it had cost Tony to make the offer, no matter how he had tried to make light of it. The tower was his home and his sanctuary from a hard world filled with people who wanted to kill him, hurt him, or use him. To offer to share that sanctuary... it was remarkably brave. How many people had betrayed Tony throughout his life? That he was willing to try, again, was amazing.

Clint and Natasha had shared a look, the bond they shared allowing them to understand each other without a single word. Phil knew many of the handlers at S.H.I.E.L.D. were puzzled by the pair. Very few understood the relationship between Clint and Natasha, but as far as Phil could see it really wasn’t anything all that complicated. The two weren’t in love, but they did love one another. More, they trusted each other. They didn’t have much in common, but they saw something in each other that was enough to create their friendship and make it as strong as spider silk. Considering their backgrounds, it was really no great surprise that once they found another person to trust that they’d latched on so fiercely.

Tony kept quiet while Clint and Natasha silently conferred and Phil felt red flags go up the moment Tony’s shoulders began to slump. He opened his mouth to say anything that might save Tony’s feelings, but Clint said, 

“Sure. We’ll stay here. Food at the cafeteria at S.H.I.E.L.D. is awful. And you’re not rotten company.” 

Tony looked like someone had just given him a puppy. Like magic, Tony perked right up with a shocked look on his face that quickly turned to a pleased smile. “And Steve? I know we didn’t get off on the right foot, but... you know.. you can have a place here, too.” And to add an incentive, “I’ll teach you to work a cell phone.”

Steve, like Clint, looked around Tony’s home and actually seemed a bit nervous. “It’s a very big home, isn’t it? I’m not used to places like this.”

“You could get used to it. You’ll like J.A.R.V.I.S., everyone does. Most people do. Well, I really like him so I’m sure you will, too.”

Finally, after a long moment’s thought, Steve nodded his head. “Thank you. Yes. And if you don’t like me being here, I can find an apartment somewhere else. You just tell me and I’ll leave. I must be able to get money, somehow.”

Clint and Natasha shot Phil a hard look and he nodded, silently telling them he would deal with it. Of course, Steve had a salary from S.H.I.E.L.D., all the Avengers did. It was a respectable sum, considering all the danger they threw themselves into, and the fact that no one had bothered to tell Steve about it didn’t make Phil happy. He would have to talk to Steve and then check out his bank account to make sure the proper amount was being deposited for him.

“I wouldn’t kick you out,” Tony assured Steve. Then he swung his head around and looked at Bruce, standing near the door, his arms wrapped around himself. His shoulders were hunched and his eyes focused on his shoes. “Bruce? What about you?”

Bruce’s reaction had been almost comical. His head shot up and his eyes were very wide. His face turned red with a blush. “Me?”

“Yeah. If you want.”

Bruce looked around at everyone’s face. “But... we might break things.”

Tony waved a hand. “I’m good at fixing things. You want to stay?”

Slowly, as if afraid the offer might be a joke, Bruce nodded. ‘Yes. Please.” Then he paused. “I can leave if I want, can’t I?”

“Eh?” Tony nodded quickly. “Sure. Of course.”

It was a such a warm moment, to see all his assets coming together in a peaceful moment, that Phil didn’t think anything could make him happier. And then he was the one stunned when Tony turned to him and made the same offer. “What about you? Staying?”

Phil didn’t need to stay at Tony’s tower like the others did. Bruce had nowhere else to go and had spent the majority of his adult life homeless, struggling to find shelter and food. Steve, Clint, and Natasha used S.H.I.E.L.D. as a place to stay, but one could never call it home. The rooms they had were not quite as good as college dorm rooms and they had almost no privacy. Tony’s offer was not just of a place to stay, but an offer of safety. Phil wondered if Tony really understood what he had given the team. No, Phil didn’t need a place to live. He had a perfectly decent apartment in the city. Still, he smiled. “Thank you, Tony. I’d love to.”

And so it was that Tony turned his home into Avenger’s Tower, a home for Bruce, Natasha, Clint, Steve, and Phil.

The kitchen was as impressive as everything else in Tony’s tower. He did not believe in doing things by halves. There were restaurant quality stoves and ovens. All the appliances were stainless steel. The counter-tops were imported stone and the floors were marble. It was all a bit excessive considering that Tony spent so little time in his kitchen. When Phil walked in, Bruce was already there, nibbling at a bowl of plain oatmeal with a large glass of orange juice sitting in front of him.

“Any plans today?” Phil asked. They had all been trying to get Bruce to get out a little more, even if it was only to sit in the sun for a few minutes, but he was so worried about something happening that would let Hulk come out, so terrified that General Ross would find him, that he rarely ever left the tower. “You could go up to the roof and watch the sunrise.”

Bruce smiled, but looked a bit worried. “Actually...I thought... Steve suggested a trip to the library. It’s only a couple of blocks away. He said we can walk and keep to the back alleys for most of the way. He said he’d go with me.” Bruce glanced at Phil out of the corner of his eye as if waiting for Phil’s opinion. “It’ll be safe and probably no one will see us.”

“I think that’s a great idea. Have fun.”

Bruce looked back down at his oatmeal. “You can come, if you like. Steve won’t mind.”

“Thanks, but I have a mountain of paperwork to get through.”

Bruce tensed. “Sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about. This is normal; I always have a lot of paperwork.” Phil tried to keep his tone light. Hulk did have a tendency to run up bills when he got upset, but nothing much had happened, lately. And, even if it had, Phil wouldn’t blame Bruce or Hulk. He knew very well that Hulk only ever tried to protect Bruce and, honestly, if people would just leave Bruce in peace then Hulk wouldn’t get upset.

Breakfast went very quietly. Tony grumbled about a business meeting while Clint meant to go for some time in the gym. Natasha planned to spend her day reading. Just as Bruce and Steve were about ready to leave for the library J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke up. 

“Forgive me for interrupting everyone’s morning.” J.A.R.V.I.S. was always polite. He could even be polite while insulting a person, he was just that clever. “There is a news report which I think may be of interest to everyone, though I expect no one will like it. There are dead children.”

Bruce shifted uneasily on his chair and Tony, always a little protective of his smaller friend, shifted his chair a bit closer to Bruce for some moral support for whatever it was they would see. Clint didn’t look any happier than Bruce and leaned over enough to nudge his shoulder against Natasha’s. Steve sat back and crossed his arms over his chest, clearly bracing himself.

“I think we’re ready,” Phil said. Considering that all The Avenger’s had suffered unfortunate childhood’s, anytime children were in danger or mistreated had the potential to set someone off in a bad way. Bruce and Natasha, with the nightmarish abuse they’d survived, were probably the worst off. Tony, despite growing up with unimaginable wealth, had been neglected and ignored by his parents. Clint didn’t talk about his childhood. Oddly, Steve, who’d grown up in the abject poverty of the Great Depression, was far better off than the others in that respect - he’d had people who’d cared for and protected him. Phil often wondered if Thor harbored any similar traumas, but it was impossible for Phil to investigate until Thor returned to them.

“As you wish,” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. “Please, direct your attention to the television.” The television in the common room was almost ridiculously big, nearly six feet across, and it could easily be seen from where they sat at the table. J.A.R.V.I.S. turned on the television and they started to watch the local news.

A young man holding a microphone stood in front of the camera and spoke gravely. “What you are about to see is a live report from downtown and we want to warn anyone with young children in the room that this story is graphic and violent and is not intended for children. If you wish to have the children leave the room, we’ll pause a moment.”

The reporter went quiet for a few moments. 

Behind the reporter, Phil could see bright yellow police tape marking off an entire building along with the street outside. There were four ambulances, no less than a dozen police cars, and a police transport wagon for carrying away prisoners. There were flashing lights and sirens. Two police officers in SWAT gear could be seen talking together and behind all of that were dozens of curious citizens watching from the sidewalk.

Clint gave a nervous, uncomfortable laugh. “This... this doesn’t look good. What the Hell happened?”

The news reporter started speaking, again. “We’re here at the Club Cod restaurant, in the middle of Manhattan, with a truly horrific story. On a tip from an award-winning journalist the NYPD has conducted a raid on the Club Cod seafood restaurant on the suspicion of human trafficking. We’ve been informed by Captain Jenkins of the NYPD that the police arrived at 8 a.m. and took into custody every person inside the building. There were no patrons as it was so early in the day, but there were four adults taken for questioning. They also found twenty-seven children between the ages of eight and fourteen dead. We aren’t clear on exactly what happened, but we do know that police suspect Club Cod was being used as a headquarters for both a child prostitution ring and child pornography, keeping children as sex slaves.” The reporter paused and turned when several gurneys were rolled out of Club Cod, all of them had white shrouds covering very small bodies. The reporter turned back to the camera and looked as if he were ready to cry. “We, of course, have to wait until we have more information, but... oh! There’s Captain Jenkins, now. Captain!” He started over to the police captain with his camera man following.

Captain Jenkins was a middle-aged man with a receding hairline and a respectable gut. He was neither tall nor short, but had a weary look on his face that spoke only too clearly of the toll the morning had taken on him.

The reporter asked Captain Jenkins, “Sir, do you have anything to say about this? Do you know who’s responsible for the death’s of the children?”

Captain Jenkins said nothing for a long while. He stared at the reporter and then at the camera. “Twenty-seven children...” He paused, took a deep breath, then said, “The tragedy of what happened today is unspeakable. Nothing I can say will change that. The NYPD was given a reliable tip along with evidence of severe child abuse happening in the Club Cod restaurant. This appears to have been an organized operation that included a method of gathering victims, keeping them controlled, and then selling or renting them out to other assailants. The NYPD responded as quickly as possible, but when we arrived we found the children all dead. Records found at the scene will be thoroughly analyzed. Autopsies will be performed on the victims to determine more about what happened to them before they died as well as to help identify them.” Captain Jenkins took a deep breath and straightened his back before he looked directly into the camera. “If anyone watching has any information, we ask that you contact the NYPD immediately, even if it’s only to leave an anonymous message. If anyone is missing a child, whether they’re missing due to suspected kidnapping or they’re a runaway, please call your local police station so we can help identify these children and return them to their families. That’s all I have for now.” He turned and walked swiftly away, but before he got far Phil noticed the man stagger a bit. His shoulders shook for a moment, before he got control of himself and continued to walk.

The reporter looked back at the camera. “And that’s all from Captain Jenkins. Keep tuned in to this station to keep updated on this terrible story.” The reporter, even more so than when he’d begun, looked close to tears. His face was pale. He turned just when more gurneys began to be rolled out of the building, each one with a white shroud, each one being loaded solemnly into waiting ambulances. The crowd surrounding the area was eerily silent. The reporter choked and wiped his eyes. He muttered, probably forgetting that his microphone was still on, “What kind of monsters did this?”

J.A.R.V.I.S. turned off the television and the silence that filled the room was oppressive. Bruce was visibly shaken. Natasha had gone very ‘blank’, expressionless, as she did when she was upset. Clint didn’t look much better. Tony stood up and walked over to one of the huge windows that gave a grand view of the city and looked down.

“Tony?” Phil walked over to stand next to Tony. They could see the flashing lights from the police cars and ambulances.

“It’s right there,” Tony said, faintly. “Club Cod is two blocks away. I never knew. How can something like that happen right under my nose and I didn’t know? It’s practically in my backyard.”

Phil saw the dangerous path Tony seemed to be heading down, so he spoke very firmly when he said, “This is NOT your fault. It happened nearby, but it is not your responsibility. The police have everything well-in-hand.”

But Tony didn’t seem to have heard. “I have created the most advanced robotic technology on the planet. I have created artificial life. I have fought alien invaders. I’ve stood up against gods. How could I not know that kids were being tortured less than a ten minute walk from my home?”

With a gentle hand on Tony’s shoulder, Bruce took control. He softly said, “Tony, let’s go to the lab. You said you have a new laser guidance system you wanted to show me.” He waited a moment and when Tony didn’t respond, he gave Tony’s arm a gentle tug. “Tony? Come on. I’d really like to see your new system.”

Slowly, Tony blinked at Bruce, then at Phil. He gave himself a little shake and attempted a smile for Bruce. “Lab. Lasers. Right. Sure, let’s go.” 

As they walked off together, Bruce shot Phil a look over his shoulder that clearly said, ‘I’ll look after him. Don’t worry.’

Phil did worry. He worried constantly about his team. Their welfare was his life. So with Tony and Bruce taken care of, he looked back at the table. Clint watched Natasha while chewing on his lip. Natasha showed all the emotion of a stone statue until she abruptly stood and faced Phil. Clint, more slowly, stood up with her.

“I feel the need to expend energy.” Natasha stated it calmly, but considering how she’d been raised, Phil had no doubt that there was a riot going on in her mind.

“Alright.” Phil couldn’t see anything but good coming from letting out her emotions with physical activity. “Are you going down to the gym?”

“Yes. I want to hit something.”

“Use the punching bag, please. When you feel up to it, and if you want to, come talk to me. I’ll listen. Try not to hurt yourself.”

She gave a sharp nod and strode off, her back stiff and head held high.

Clint wordlessly followed Natasha, her faithful shadow, with nothing but a nod to Phil. He would stay with Natasha until she calmed down, no matter how long that took. As a sniper, Clint had magnificent patience and if it took hours or even days, he wouldn’t leave her alone in her current state.

That left only Steve. Steve Rogers, who had been small and weak in his youth, had been made into a tall and broad young man by way of a mysterious chemical serum. It wasn’t his physical ability that made Steve special, though. Anyone who met him would agree to that. Steve had the warmest of hearts. He was a genuinely good person, with an old-fashioned sense of honor and dignity. It was understandable - he was from an old-fashioned time, after all. Steve had fought in World War II and been frozen in ice until he’d been rescued many years later and he at times had difficulty adjusting to modern life. He sat at his place at the table and stared down at his half-eaten breakfast. So, after a minute, he picked up his fork and continued to eat, though he didn’t seem to enjoy it. Steve didn’t waste food.

“Steve?” Phil asked. “Are you alright?”

Steve paused then set his fork back down. “I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand.”

Steve waved his hand at the television. “All... that. Everyone’s upset and there are a lot of kids that got killed. I understand that, but what’s ‘human trafficking’?”

And so began one of the more difficult discussions in Phil’s career. Steve did know what human trafficking was, he simply wasn’t familiar with the phrase. When Phil finished his explanation, Steve folded his hands on his lap and thought for a minute. “So... someone was stealing kids and making them...ah...” He looked sick. “Have sex? And when the police learned about it, those people killed all the kids?” He slowly shook his head. “I STILL don’t understand. That’s just... sick. I know that sort of person is out there - my Bucky always made sure I kept away from certain people in the neighborhood and when I got old enough he told me why they were dangerous - but this sounds different. This wasn’t just some twisted person. This was a business. They had employees. Did they get paychecks every week? Other low-lifes knew where their place of business was. Did people call up and make appointments to rent out kids, like going to the dentist? It sounds so organized. I’ve never seen anything like it.” He paused. “I want to help.”

“I’m sure we can find some way, but the police will catch them, I’m sure.” He desperately hoped fate wouldn’t make a liar out of him. All too often a criminal was granted a stroke of good luck and was able to slip away.

“Phil,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “You have an incoming call from S.H.I.E.L.D. I believe it is Mister Fury.”

“Thank you.” Phil excused himself from Steve and went back to his apartment to answer his phone. He wasn’t greeted by anything as simple as a ‘hello’ or ‘good morning’. Nick Fury was not a ‘good morning’ sort of person.

“This is a damned way to start the day.” Fury sighed heavily, as he’d taken to doing since he’d been made head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and had the weight of the world set on his shoulders. “Did you see the news about Club Cod?”

Phil sat at his desk. “Yes. The team is pretty upset about it. Doesn’t seem like it’s world shaking enough to involve you, though. What didn’t the news report?”

“Everything, Phil. Everything. Yeah, there’s suspicion of child abuse and human trafficking and there are a pile of dead kids, but this is a lot bigger than what the civilians are being told. Some journalist managed to get a hold of information that set this whole thing in motion. I’ve heard that he has hard evidence that’s going to put a lot of people in prison for a very long time and I’m not talking about the handful of criminals the cops arrested today. This thing is big. Really big. That journalist is keeping things close for now, but rumor has it that he has evidence to prove who paid for those kids - names, personal information, photographs, and video recordings. Most damning of all is that he has an eyewitness.”

Phil heard little alarm bells going off in his head. “A witness? Someone on the inside turned informant?”

“We don’t know. That journalist isn’t talking to us.”

“That’s not optimal, but the fact that he has hard evidence and is using it to take down such an organization is surely a good thing. The cops can get the guilty parties off the streets and...”

“Listen, it isn’t that simple. Would I call you for something so easy? The journalist has a list of names that include the wealthy and elite of New York, politicians in Washington, and military leaders. But it’s not just America’s problem. He has the names of foreign politicians, dignitaries, nobility, and business tycoons. World leaders are involved in this, but the list also names people involved with the Mafia, the Corsican Syndicate, the Chinese Tong, and a whole bucket full of other criminal organizations.”

As Fury had been speaking, Phil felt himself go quite cold. “The witness...”

“Yeah. Evidence is good, but an eyewitness willing to testify under oath is better. Whoever the witness is, they’re almost certainly as good as dead. If this person’s name gets leaked, they won’t have a chance. World Leaders with armies at their command will have no trouble putting out a hit on one person. Not to mention that if it comes out that one leader of a country is found guilty of patronizing Club Cod and molesting children, it could spark a fire. Imagine if that one person has made an enemy of a rising politician in their country; civil war might break out if that person decides to use the scandal to take control of the government for themselves. And, if they’ve made an enemy of another nation’s leader, it could also lead to war.”

“That seems a bit extreme.”

“I have seen wars fought and good soldiers killed for less reason.”

“True.”

“This situation needs to be carefully controlled if we’re going to avoid World War III. I hate to think what some of the people on that list will do to protect their reputation. Killing one witness wouldn’t even make some people break a sweat. This whole thing is dynamite.”

“I certainly hope you’re not suggesting that we hush this up.” Because Phil would be exceedingly unhappy if that were to happen. It was a very dangerous situation, but the victims deserved justice and the people who abused them needed to be stopped from repeating the crime as soon as they felt safe.

“Of course not, but precautions must be taken. The witness must testify. I would have assets stationed strategically near high risk suspects to minimize damage they might cause if they spook, but I don’t know who the suspects are. I’m not asking you to involve your assets, but I would appreciate your input about a plan of action. A safe-house must be found at once.”

“I agree and it’s location will either have to be top secret or completely impenetrable. Preferably both. Give me some time to plan and I’ll get back to you.”

“Make it quick. I have a team standing by to pay a visit to the journalist to insist on the name of his informant and the names of the suspects. In the interest of world security, the informant must be protected and I have a hard time believing that a newspaper reporter has the resources to guard against the enemies I expect. Whether they like it or not, they need our help.”

“Don’t send a force against the journalist, he hasn’t done anything wrong and is trying to do something good so the last thing we want is to make him think we’re the enemy. We can send a covert operation to guard the witness, if necessary, but let me try to talk to him, first. Even if the journalist doesn’t want to trust us, if we can get the name of the witness we can speak to them directly and make them see reason. I’ll set up a meeting. The journalist seems to have his heart in the right place, but I think he can’t know what he’s got his hands on or he would be happily accepting protection for his witness and himself. He’s sure to be a target, as well.”

Fury hung up and less than five minutes later emailed to Phil an address, a phone number, an email address, and a photograph of the journalist, Mister Max Lobo. It looked like a professional photo, like what an author might have put on the dust jacket of a book they’d written. For a long moment, Phil stared at the photo. Mister Lobo had light brown hair and blue eyes. His jaw, his shoulders, everything about him looked square and solid. He wore a cheap suit and a smile in the photo. 

Phil frowned. “I know him.” The memory came slowly - it had been a few years - and he remembered the smell of cigarette smoke. A deep voice singing ‘Oh, My Darling Clementine’. Bombs exploded all around, dust in the air, screaming... screaming...

The memory came roaring back with awful clarity.

***

In a military hospital, Private Phil walked down a long, white hall. He still felt rather numb, after what had happened. Phil came to a stop outside a room and, without bothering to knock, walked in. The room held a single bed and, in it, lay a man who stared blankly up at the ceiling. Sitting in a chair by his side was another soldier. His eyes were fixed on his comrade in the bed. He was pale and looked utterly exhausted. Phil walked over and sat in a chair next to the bed. 

For a moment, the room was dead silent.

“Well?” Max Glenreed asked.

“They’re sending him back to the states in a couple of days. He’ll be admitted to a mental hospital for treatment.”

“Good. That’s good.” Max was very young, only twenty-two, and looked ten years older. He had tears in his eyes when he looked up at Phil. “I can’t believe all this. He killed them. I don’t... I don’t...” Max shook his head slowly and put his face in his hands. “I don’t know what happened to Griff.”

Griffin Callenreese. Phil had served with him and Max for more than six months. They were all due to go home in less than three days, but Griffin had snapped out of the blue. Phil had been there, watched it all happen. Griffin had walked into camp and, without a word, picked up a gun and killed four of their people. Phil looked, again, at Griffin, but Griffin did nothing more than stare up at the ceiling. His mouth was partly open and there was an awful look in his eyes, as if he were seeing the most horrifying vision. “Griff? Can you hear me?”

Griffin didn’t answer. The doctors had told Phil he wouldn’t.

“He hasn’t spoken since we got here,” Max said, finally looking up. “I shot him in the legs. The doctors said he’ll probably never walk, again.” Max sniffed and scrubbed at his eyes. “I had to shoot him. I didn’t... oh, God.”

Griffin had been well-liked and friendly. He’d never given any reason to believe he would snap in such a horrific way. There had been no tension within the group. Private Callenreese had been an affable young man, prone to laughter and talking about his beloved little brother. He’d been the type to sit with a struggling comrade and listen while he spoke longingly about the girl he’d left behind, the type to give a depressed friend his dessert at mealtime, the type to volunteer for the most undesirable duties just so no one else would have to do it. His superiors had thought highly of him, though they’d noted he didn’t have the ambition to make officer. It seemed he had simply snapped.

“Maybe it was the drugs,” Max suggested, weakly. “We both knew he was taking something, even if we only caught him at it that once.” Max ran a hand through his hair. “He couldn’t take it. We both know he was having a hard time. Seeing that stuff all the time. Civilians getting killed. Bombs. Friends dying all around you. Christ, it’s hard. Griff... I don’t think he was ever meant for war. He’s too gentle. You know, he told me once he’d only joined up so he could get the money to send his little brother to school. He just wasn’t meant for all this.”

Phil put a sympathetic hand on Max’s shoulder. “War’s hard for everyone. Do you know what he was taking?”

“He never told me. He didn’t start until a few weeks ago. You remember that ambush? He had to kill two people. That night, I heard him crying. I think he started using after that.” He met Phil’s eyes, defensively. “I don’t know why he picked up that gun, but that wasn’t him. Whatever drug he’d been taking, it always made him foggy and tired, never violent.” Max’s eyes went as hard as granite. “Someone gave him a different drug and it made him go crazy. When Griff stopped shooting, he said, “Banana Fish” and then didn’t speak again for hours. When he did speak, he repeated, “Banana Fish”. It’s all he’s said ever since. I spoke to the doctors and the nurses and Griff only repeats those words, never anything else. I don’t know what it means, but it means something.”

PTSD, Phil had thought at the time. Griffin must have had PTSD and that, coupled with the unknown drug, had caused a severe psychotic break. It was tragic, but it wasn’t the first time Phil had heard of soldiers trying to medicate away their pain, even if that meant illegal means. So he had pulled the blanket up a little further on Griffin to make sure he was warm, then said to Max, “There won’t be a trial, there can’t be. Not with him in this state. I’m sure he’ll get to a good hospital back in the states.”

Max’s eyes went to Griffin. “Yeah. Sure.”

***

That had been the end of it. At least it had until Phil sat at his desk and held a photograph of Private Maxwell Glenreed, who called himself Max Lobo, and had declared that he had information that could potentially bring chaos to the world. Phil sat in his room and thought for a long time. Eventually, he set the photo down on his desk and leaned back a little to look up at the ceiling. 

“J.A.R.V.I.S., please call a meeting with everyone.”

“Sir is in his workshop, Phil.”

“Well... let him know.” Getting Tony out of the workshop wasn’t an easy or fast job. Still, he felt Tony would want to know, given his earlier reaction. “Tell him it’s about Club Cod.”

Phil left his rooms and headed for the place where they had been holding regular meetings ever since they had all begun to live together - the kitchen. At the kitchen table, Bruce had already set out bottles of water for everyone. Natasha and Clint stood in a corner, very close together. Phil noticed Clint pat Natasha’s arm, comfortingly and whisper something to her. Just after Phil had arrived, Tony, dressed in grease-stained overalls, walked in. He said nothing, but went straight to the window in the living area and looked down to where he and Phil had watched the action at Club Cod only an hour earlier.

“Where’s Steve?” Bruce asked, his voice as soft as always.

J.A.R.V.I.S. answered, “Steve was disturbed by the news. He wants to help.”

Of course he did. It was so very Steve. He would want to do something, even if there was nothing that could be done. The situation didn’t really call for a team of super heroes so much as it begged for dedicated police officers. There was no invading army or power hungry dictator to fight. There were dead children and unknown perverts. Still, Steve would want to do something, anything. Even if it broke his heart to see what had been done, he would want to do something. He would suffer the pain, Phil knew. He would suffer it without complaint if it meant he could help someone. That pain was the price he paid for having a tender heart.

Steve walked in, then. Tall and muscular and fair, the bright image of the world renowned Captain America... carrying a teddy bear.

Everyone stared. 

Steve blushed and held the teddy bear a little tighter. “I thought... if there was a chance that a child had survived... maybe something soft might help.” He looked suddenly doubtful. “Is that alright?”

“It’s more than alright.” Tony didn’t look away from the window. “It’s a great thought.”

“But,” Bruce, always the realist, quietly said, “But there weren’t any survivors. Steve, you heard the news.”

“There might have been one. They might have made a mistake. ”

Clint sat at the table with Bruce and Natasha sat next to him, inching her chair close enough that her shoulder touched Clint’s. Clint said, “Sure, they might have. Mistakes happen. And if there aren’t any survivors, we’ll take it along with us the next time we go on a mission. If there’s a hurt or scared kid, they can have it. Right?”

Steve didn’t look happy, but he smiled at Clint. “Right. That’s a swell idea. Thanks.”

“It IS a swell idea,” Phil agreed. “Now, I wanted to talk to everyone about a development about the Club Cod case.” Tony instantly left the window and sat next to Bruce while Steve, still holding the teddy bear, stood at attention just behind his team mates, watching Phil. Once he was assured of everyone’s attention, Phil started. “I received a call from Fury just after the news broadcast about Club Cod. He heard about it and he’s worried. Apparently, the reporter who broke this news to the NYPD has an eyewitness who can identify the guilty parties and is willing to testify in court. That means the reporter and his witness are in danger. The suspicion is that many very rich and powerful people will be better off if the reporter and his witness are dead. If they aren’t killed and the witness testifies, then it could start off riots or even wars. Fury has people posted in key locations to keep things civilized, but he’s asked me to ensure the witness stays alive.”

Tony crossed his arms over his chest. A faint glow emanated through his shirt. “You know the witness was probably involved in all this and only turned traitor to save their own skin, don’t you? Who else would know anything? I don’t like that we’re supposed to help someone who let that stuff happen to kids. He should be thrown in prison with the rest of them.”

“He’s right,” Clint said. “We can’t trust someone who’d hurt kids.”

“I’m not planning to trust anyone,” Phil assured them. “But if this person can put so many others behind bars, then I need to keep them alive. I knew you wouldn’t like this, so I wanted to let you all know that I’m not planning to involve you. I just wanted to tell everyone that I’ll handle this on my own. It means I’ll be gone for a while. I’m going to find a safe house to keep the witness and the reporter in and I’ll stand guard myself. I’m sorry if this causes any trouble for anyone, but I’ll have Fury assign another handler to take care of paperwork for you and...”

Natasha, still stiff and cool as always when she was uncomfortable, said, “I do not believe anyone said we will not help.”

“Right.” Tony grinned. “I might want to throw the witness out the window, but I get what you mean about putting so many other people in prison. The witness is useful so they’ll be kept alive and we’re the best people to ensure that.”

Bruce wrapped his hands around his water bottle, staring down at it rather than at Phil. “And we don’t want you to be alone with someone who might be dangerous.”

“Yeah,” Clint lightly tapped his water bottle against Bruce’s. “That’s right. You’re our handler. You belong to us so we have to take care of you.”

Steve nodded his agreement. “It would be real low to let a team mate go into danger alone.”

Phil had never been quite so happy in his life.

To be continued...


	2. Ash

Chapter 2: Ash

Phil beamed at his team. “Thank you, that’s very sweet.” He steadfastly ignored the blushes that rose up in the room, though he found it altogether charming. Sentimentality aside, it was time to work. “Let me fill you in on what I know. Unfortunately, it’s not much.” 

“Tell us what you do know,” Steve pulled up a chair to the table and, once they were all sitting together, leveled a serious look at Phil. It was nothing new - Steve was usually serious. “We need all the information so we can work out a plan.”

“Agreed,” Natasha said, briskly. “A plan and then action. We will not fail.”

Phil folded his hands on the table in front of him and took a moment to sort through his thoughts and suspicions and memories.

“The journalist who broke the story about Club Cod and has the witness is known as Max Lobo, but his real name is Maxwell Glenreed. He’s an old friend of mine.” That earned him a few curious looks. “I haven’t seen Max in years, not since before I was recruited to work with S.H.I.E.L.D. and he clearly went on to become a journalist. Somehow, he came to know about Club Cod and got in contact with the witness. What I need is time to do a little more research about Max. I need to find out as much about Max as I can before I go to see him. First of all - how did he find out about all this? He’s not the type of person to frequent a place like Club Cod. He’d be more likely to break the teeth of anyone who’d go there.”

With the teddy bear sitting in his lap, Steve reached up a hand to scratch at the back of his head. What an innocent moment - Captain America with a teddy bear looking so wonderfully guileless. “It’s a bit of a coincidence that you know him. It sure is a small world.”

Bruce rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I don’t like coincidences. Is he safe? Soldiers can be dangerous.” Bruce gave Phil a fleeting apologetic look. He didn’t mean any insult. Soldiers were dangerous, in Bruce’s experience. They had guns and they chased him and people got hurt and sometimes he was the one to hurt them.

The attitude was a pity, but understandable. Phil knew that Bruce didn’t paint everyone with the same brush, but it was hard for Bruce to look beyond the uniform. So Phil took no offense and decided he would talk to Bruce later and maybe attempt to have Bruce meet a few old war buddies. After all, Bruce liked Steve and Steve was a war veteran, so maybe if he met a few more he’d feel more at easy. “It’s been ten years since I last saw Max, but he was always a very good man. Loud and sometimes a bit tactless, but good. I don’t imagine he’s changed that much.”

Tony wandered into the living area and then back. His restless energy made him swing his arms back and forth a few times before he apparently realized what he was doing and stuck his hands in his pockets with a look of determination. Still, for the moment, Tony asked, “How’d you two meet?”

“I met him in Iraq, in the war. We were marines and we’d served together for some time. Just before we were set to go home, a friend was hurt. Max and I both tried to help, but there wasn’t much we could do. We went home and kept in touch for a little while, but, life happens and we went our separate ways. He went on to go through the police academy and become an award winning writer while I found my life... well... here.”

“And it’s a good thing you did,” Tony declared “If you weren’t here with us, you’d do something silly like going to see him on your own and then you’d get killed or something and if that happened, I’d have deal with Fury on my own and that wouldn’t be good for anyone.”

Clint gave Phil a smile. “So it’s a good thing you’ve got us here to help you. It’s a good thing for Fury, at least.”

“Your friend,” Bruce spoke up. “Did he recover?”

How like Bruce to worry for someone he’d never met. Perhaps it was his medical training or perhaps it was how long he’d spent living as someone no one worried for. Phil wouldn’t guess. “He... ah. His name was Griffin. He was very young, the youngest out of all of us. He was troubled by the realities of war and, unfortunately started in with drugs.”

Steve crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back. For a moment, just a fleeting moment, Phil feared that Steve would be critical of Griffin. Steve was so strong and so very sure of what was right and wrong and carrying out his duty, but not everyone could be that strong. He was ashamed of his doubt when Steve said, “War’s hard on everyone. I’ve seen more than one good person turn to some vice to help them get through it. I’m sorry your friend suffered.”

“Thank you.” Of course Steve’s natural compassion and his own experiences in war would help him to understand. “Griffin really wasn’t much more than a kid. I’m not sure he was even nineteen. He did his best, never caused trouble, but it was real hard on him. Max tried to help him, I tried.” Phil could only give a helpless shrug as he remembered Griffin sitting on his cot, writing poetry. He then remembered Griffin laying in the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling drooling pitifully. “Poor kid. One night, he walked into camp, picked up his gun, and killed four of our own people. He only stopped because Max shot him - once in each leg. We tried to speak to him but he only ever said, “Banana Fish”. Never anything else. He didn’t look at anyone or react to anyone talking to him. He was clearly awake, but... well. It was as if he were trapped inside himself. The last I heard, he’d been given a medical discharge and put in a hospital as he obviously couldn’t take care of himself. Anyway, the whole incident was real hard for Max. He took it personally and blamed himself for not looking after Griffin better. He started having terrible nightmares and flashbacks. I’m fairly certain he had PTSD, too. After his time was up, he left the military. I haven’t seen him since.”

“Phil,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “If you would like, I could try to find Mister Griffin Callenreese.”

“Thank you, but maybe later. I’m sure he’s being taken care of as he’s in a hospital. What I need to do is concentrate on keeping Max and his witness alive.”

“I can help with that, at least.” Tony drummed his fingers on the table top. “Bring the witness here. With J.A.R.V.I.S. in control, no one can get in or out, so your witness will be perfectly safe. Of course, they’ll be confined.” His face was dark, very unhappy. “The witness must be someone who worked at Club Cod and turned against them when they thought it would serve them best. I won’t have that kind of person just wandering around freely. I’ll have to bleach whatever room I put them in as is.”

“Are you sure?” Tony was an intensely private person, despite how much of his life was in the public eye. To give anyone even limited access to his home was asking a lot. “You don’t have to do this. I think we all suspect that this witness was involved and no one’s going to feel any sympathy to them. This is your home - you do not have to let someone like that in here.”

Tony looked down at the table. “It’s the safest place and if their testimony will help bring so many people to justice and provide some closure for the families those kids might have left behind, then I’ll provide the protection. So long as they can’t wander around. I can put up with them.”

“We’ll all help,” Clint said.

Phil, smiled and sat back in his seat, perfectly content. He hadn’t meant to involve any of them - God knew he didn’t want to bring up any bad memories for any of his team - but it looked like they wouldn’t give him the option. He didn’t think he’d ever get over how wonderful his team was, no matter how other S.H.I.E.L.D. handlers gossiped that The Avengers were nothing but nuts floating in a bowl of lunatic sauce with a “We are the crazies” flashing neon sign above them. What did the other handles know? Clearly, they were a bunch of lumps. One day, Phil was sure, the whole world would see how wonderful his team was. Until then, at least they had him.

“Thank you, everyone,” Phil said. “We need to find Max Glenreed, convince him to let us speak to his witness. This shouldn’t be all that troublesome - Fury gave me Max’s phone number and address. So, let’s get this rolling. J.A.R.V.I.S., please call the number we have for Max.”

Naturally, it wasn’t that easy.

J.A.R.V.I.S. did dial, but a computerized voice answered with, “This number is no longer in service.”

“Then we go for a visit,” Clint said. “What was the address, again?”

“Pardon me for interrupting,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “But I should tell you that a cursory investigation shows that the address is not the home of Mister Glenreed, but of a Mrs. Rebecca Baumann. According to the landlord’s records I’m able to access, Mister Glenreed did live there, but hasn’t been seen in over a year, so the landlord rented it to someone else.”

“That’s not good,” Clint said. “So Fury doesn’t know where the journalist is.”

Tony’s eyes lit up. “Can I tell Fury his intelligence networks is falling down on the job?”

Phil absently nodded. It always made Tony happy to needle Fury.

J.A.R.V.I.S. looked at police records and reported that when Max had made his accusations, the officer filing out the paperwork had listed his address as ‘unknown due to safety concerns’, which was something Phil had never seen on a police report. They all searched for information about Max Lobo, but all that brought up was his professional credits, nothing personal at all.

Tony found some information on his phone and read aloud to the team. “Mister Maxwell Glenreed was incarcerated due to a physical altercation between himself and a police officer two years ago. When his lawyer arranged to get him out on bail, Mister Glenreed disappeared. Mister Glenreed’s previous address, the one he used before Mrs. Baumann’s apartment, was in Los Angeles where he lived with his wife and son. He and his wife divorced.” He paused. “Would he go to California? With all this stuff happening, you’d think he’d stay in New York.”

“That would be logical.” Natasha had also taken out her phone and used it to search the internet. “Most people aren’t logical, however.” She stopped and read what was on her screen before she said, “There was an incident several months ago when police records indicate that Mister Glenreed showed up at his ex-wife’s home.”

“What sort of incident?” Bruce asked.

“Mrs. Jessica Glenreed, Max’s ex-wife, was raped.” She said it with such disturbing calm, as if it were a common, everyday occurrence, that Phil felt his urge to destroy the people who’d trained her flare up. He pushed it aside as it was clearly unhelpful at that moment. Natasha continued, “Apparently, she was on the telephone with a lawyer friend at the time and told him to call the police when three men barged into her home. Incidentally, that same lawyer is the man who got Max out of prison on bail. The police arrived at Mrs. Glenreed’s home too late to catch the men, but the police report does briefly mention that the victim’s husband turned up at the scene. According to him, one of the suspects called him on Mrs. Glenreed’s cell phone and made threats. However, when the police went to question Mr. Glenreed, he had gone and they weren’t able to find him. If Mrs. Glenreed knew where he went, she didn’t say.”

Clint added, “It wouldn’t have been too hard for your friend to disappear, Phil. His military record shows he’s had a lot of training with that sort of thing, not to mention his training from the police academy. If he wants to hide, we’ll really have to hunt for him.”

“We’ll find him, won’t we, J.A.R.V.I.S.?” Tony had one of his small computer pads in hand and was moving his fingers rapidly over it. “No one just disappears. Search for the wife. If he went to her once, they might still be close. If we can find her, maybe she’ll know where Max is and can tell him we need to speak with him. Is she still in California?”

J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke up. “Mrs. Jessica Glenreed currently goes by the name Ms. Jessica Randy. Her home in California was sold several weeks ago and I do not find her name on any current apartment rental or home deed.”

Phil tapped his chin with his index finger. “Can you track either of them with video recordings? A lot of places in New York have security cameras these days.”

“Indeed.” A large image of Max and his ex-wife, along with a little boy appeared as J.A.R.V.I.S. threw a hologram image up. He fell silent for a time before he said, “I believe I have found Ms. Randy.” The image of the little family was replaced by a video recording of Ms. Randy walking towards a building. She was a beautiful woman, undeniably. She was tall and statuesque with very long, fair hair. She walked like a woman on a mission, her head held high and her back straight. She strode, as if she were a military leader victorious over a worthy foe. They all watched while she walked down the sidewalk and into one of the biggest buildings in the city. It was an apartment house, but one of the types that gleamed in the sun, with a doorman to open and close the door for the residents. It looked nearly as opulent as Tony’s tower.

“I think I own that one,” Tony said. “Maybe. I forget, sometimes, but I’m pretty sure that’s one of mine. It’s not cheap, either. Journalists must get paid pretty well if they can get an apartment in there.”

Fifteen minutes was all it took for Phil, with Clint and Natasha as his back-up, to leave the tower to find Ms. Randy. 

***

They had a rough plan. Clint would be watching from a distance to keep an eye on the area. Natasha, dressed in her least memorable costume, would be posted nearby, but far enough away to avoid suspicion. The last thing they needed was to frighten Ms. Randy. Phil, dressed in his usual black suit and tie, would make contact with Ms. Randy. With any luck she would see the logic in having The Avengers give protection for both Max and the witness. He was even considering offering protection for Ms. Randy in case any enemy might try to use her in a plan to stop Max. It really should have been very simple.

Phil went to the apartment house and took the elevator up to the top floor where, after a little investigation on Tony’s part, they’d discovered that Ms. Randy lived in one of the top two apartments under the name of Mrs. Winston. The apartment building really was very grand. Thick carpets in the halls, tasteful art on the walls. It was elegant, but not over-the-top. When he finally stood outside the right apartment, he took a few seconds to go over what he would say to Ms. Randy before he knocked.

The door opened, just a hair, but Phil saw a chain still kept it locked. At first he saw no one in the opening in the doorway, but then he looked down and saw that two large, dark blue eyes peered out at him. A child. A little boy no older than six. The boy had a head full of shaggy brown hair and frowned up at Phil. There were freckles scattered across his nose and cheeks. It had to be Max and Ms. Randy’s son, Michael. There hadn’t been much about him in the research they’d done, but it made sense that the boy would be there with his mother.

Phil put on his most friendly smile. “Hello, young man. May I - ”

“No strangers.” The boy closed the door.

Phil blinked at the door, then knocked, again.

The same small voice called out, “No strangers! Go away!”

“I’m sorry, but I’d like to speak with a grown-up, please. Is your mom home?”

The door didn’t open, again, and Phil heard a dead-bolt being slid into place. Smart boy. Phil knocked, again, and said, “I don’t mean to scare you. You’re Michael, aren’t you? I’m looking for your mom. Can you ask her to - ”

“The Hell?!” 

The unexpected voice coming from down the hall by the elevator, startled Phil so much that he spun around. Years of fighting had left him with strong reflexes regarding such things and he felt a brief flash of disappointment in himself that he hadn’t heard the newcomer. He found himself facing a teenager, a skinny boy with a shaggy mop of bright blonde hair and vibrant green eyes. The boy couldn’t have been older than eighteen-years-old. He wore wire-rim glasses and dressed smartly in pressed khaki trousers and a green sweater-vest over a collared white shirt. All-in-all, he seemed like a rich college student on his way to a class. Then mild looking boy opened his mouth and the illusion was lost.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The words came from the boy in a sort of growled hiss. His eyes were narrowed, his whole body tensed in a way that Phil had seen in soldiers conditioned to fight at a moment’s notice. He began to stalk towards Phil, his arms swinging at his sides with his hands balled into fists. He glared in a decidedly malevolent way. “Who are you?”

In his ear, where the communication device Tony had designed to be almost invisible was securely located, Phil heard Clint say, “You need help? He looked harmless enough when he walked into the building.”

“There’s no need to worry,” Phil kept his voice calm and soft as he spoke to both Clint and the newcomer with the same sentence. The last thing he wanted was for Clint and Natasha to come rushing in to fight with a kid. “I’m just here to talk to someone. Are you a neighbor?”

“Talk?” The boy snorted. “Gimme a break. I heard you trying to get the kid to open the door. You some kinda pervert?”

Phil choked and was, for a moment, at a loss for words. No one had ever thought such a thing about him! “What? No! Of course not! You see- ”

The boy sneered at Phil as he stepped by him and rapped on the door and said, very kindly, “Hey? Kid?”

“Ash, there’s a man outside!” Michael’s little voice called out.

“Yeah, I got him. You go tell mommy that I’m dealing with it. Don’t open the door. Got it?”

“Yes, Ash.”

The boy, Ash, focused on Phil with a lot less kindness than he’d shown Michael. “I’ll ask again - who are you and what are you doing here?”

“My name is Phil Coulson and I’m just trying to track down and old army buddy named Max. Honestly.” It was honest. Perhaps it wasn’t the whole truth, but there was no need to get the boy involved.

Ash’s eyes narrowed behind his glasses. He stood utterly still and stared. “A buddy? Sure. Right.” He opened his mouth to say something else, but the door directly across the hall suddenly opened and Ash smiled, all sweetness and charm. “Hello, Mrs. Coleman. Nice to see you.”

“Hello, Chris.” Mrs. Coleman must have been nearly eighty-years-old and stared Phil down as sternly as any drill sergeant. She was a tiny woman, slender and short, with curled white hair and a cane to walk with. “I heard raised voices. Is everything alright out here?”

Ash - or Chris or whatever his name was - chuckled. “Yes. We’re fine.” He jerked his thumb towards Phil. “This guy’s a little lost. I think he’s looking for the building next door.”

Her eyes focused on Phil and her hand tightened on her cane. Phil suspected she might hit him with it. “Are you sure? I can call the police.”

“No, no.” Ash waved away her concern with remarkable charisma. “It’s nothing to worry about. I’ll take care of everything.”

She sniffed. “Well, if you’re sure, dear. How’s your mother?” She gestured with her cane to the door Phil knew was the apartment Ms. Randy and her son lived. “Has your father been home, lately?”

“She’s fine and I think dad will be by tonight.”

“Good. It’s not good for your mother to be left alone in that apartment all day and night with no company but your little brother and you. Your father should take her out or at least be home so she can go out on her own.” Mrs. Coleman shook her cane at Ash. “You tell your father to take good care of his family or I’ll have words with him!”

“He takes care of us very well. Honestly.”

Mrs. Coleman snorted, as though she didn’t believe him, but went back into her apartment without further arguing.

Ash’s personality went back to harsh for Phil just as quickly as it had flipped to sweet for Mrs. Coleman. He jabbed a finger towards the elevator. “Get walking.” For a moment, Phil considered. He need to speak with Ms. Randy, but he didn’t want to cause a scene with the boy and worry any more listening neighbors. He started walking. Ash followed Phil right back to the street, keeping silent the entire time until they were on the sidewalk. Ash raised one hand over his head then let it drop back to his side. It was clearly a signal as, at that very moment, two more teenagers appeared. They were complete opposites - one very large and tall, while the other was small and skinny.

“Problem, Boss?” The small one asked Ash. His clothes were a step away from being rags. He wore overalls with one strap hanging loose because the button was missing. His long strawberry-blonde hair hung in a dirty, sloppy braid down his back. He had four missing front teeth, but he did have two sharp canines that looked like fangs.

“Yeah, this bozo thought it would be a good idea to go around scaring a little kid.”

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” Phil said, at last. “I’m not trying to scare anyone, but I need to speak with Ms. Randy urgently. Do you know her?”

“Ms. Randy, huh?” Ash stuck his hands in his pocket. If anything, his expression grew even more frosty. “I thought you were looking for Max.”

“I am, but I can’t find him so I was hoping Ms. Randy could help me.”

The second teenager, tall and huge with a surprisingly gentle face, asked, “Who’s Ms. Randy?” He, like his friend, dressed very poorly. His jeans had been torn and patched several times. His shirt had been white, once, but was a mix of old stains. The two of them were the very image of poverty and, yet, they snapped to attention at a single word from Ash with the well-trained obedience of soldiers.

Ash answered, “It’s Jessica, you dummy. Bones,” he said to the smaller of his two friends. “Go get the old man and tell him to meet me at the park. He knows which one.”

At the command, Bones scurried off. Ash turned a hard look on the remaining teenager. “What are you waiting for, Kong? Go with him.”

“Yes, Boss.” Kong then ran after his friend.

It was only Phil and Ash left on the street. Ash hadn’t eased up a bit. He circled around Phil, prowling like a wild animal, like a leopard on the hunt. He looked Phil up and down and if Phil hadn’t known that Natasha and Clint were nearby, watching him for any sign of distress, he might have been worried. That, in itself, put him on high alert. He was a trained soldier, a veteran with years of experience fighting. There was no reason at all that a skinny teenager, who looked more bone than muscle, should worry him. And, yet, he was worried.

“And what do you want with Ms. Randy, huh?” Ash asked. “She doesn’t need to be bothered and the kid doesn’t need any more scares. So, what’s your business?”

“Nothing I can talk to you about.”

Ash’s expression didn’t change. He reached out and gave Phil a shove on the shoulder. “Get walking.”

“Where am I going?”

“Just walk. I’ll tell you when to stop.”

Despite the urgency of their current mission, Phil couldn’t deny the tendril of curiosity. Ash looked like a mild college student, but had a very rough way of talking and, apparently, had a small gang. Phil would have bet money that Bones and Kong were street kids, homeless or, at the very least, living well below the poverty line. He had no idea what Ash’s connection was to Ms. Randy, but he wanted to know. There was clearly some connection, but Phil needed more information.

Ash led Phil only a short distance. They went down a sidewalk for about two blocks, then turned left and ended up in park. It was a sorry little place - one broken swing and a rusty slide. The grass had dead patches and while there had once been a stately black iron fence surrounding the little park, it had become so dilapidated with age that there was nothing left of it but a few upright poles surrounded by tall weeds. Ash pointed at a bench and Phil sat. Ash didn’t sit. He also kept a good six-foot distance between the two of them. He paced and wandered up and down, but never once let himself get in arm’s reach of Phil. On one of his passes by Phil, Phil happened to noticed a lump under the boy’s shirt, just at the small of his back. A gun. It was easy to spot for someone who knew what they were looking for and Phil had no doubt at all that both Clint and Natasha, wherever they were, had already spotted it and were at attention.

Phil waited for a time in silence, but his intuition kept poking at him, telling him that the boy important. He couldn’t figure out how. Mrs. Coleman had called Ms. Randy Ash’s mother, but Phil hadn’t seen any evidence in his research that proved Max had any children other than Michael. Yet, Ash knew the family well enough for Michael to trust him. Mrs. Coleman had also called Ash ‘Chris’ which Phil wanted to investigate. Phil tried, again. “I’ve told you who I am. Won’t you introduce yourself?”

Ash said nothing.

“Mrs. Coleman called you ‘Chris’ but your friends and Michael call you ‘Ash’.”

Still, no reply.

“Can I at least ask how you know Mister Glenreed and Ms. Randy? I know they only have one son.” Phil kept his eyes on the boy and when he still didn’t get an answer, he said, “I’m not trying to hurt anyone. Max is an old friend I want to help him.”

The silent treatment was getting frustrating. The boy entirely ignored him, just kept pacing. For all that he spoke, Phil might as well have not been there. If he couldn’t get answers, then there was no point in hanging around and delaying his search for Max. If necessary, he would be able to get away from the boy, of course, but he really didn’t want to take the chance of hurting a kid who, apparently, thought Phil was a dangerous person putting a nice family in jeopardy, even if Ash’s method’s were a bit rough.

Before Phil had to decide what to do about the situation a voice rang out, “Hey!” The shout made Phil turn his head and he saw, not just Bones and Kong, but a group of seven teenage boys approaching. “Boss, we got him!” They were a questionable looking group and none of the boys were in any better shape than Bones and Kong - torn clothes, unkempt hair, and a rough, hard look to their expressions. They were boys - they should have been in school, Phil thought - but they way they carried themselves and the undeniable united front they showed was dangerous. They were dangerous. The boys came swaggering into the park and, as they reached where Phil sat, their group parted and, the center, was Max Glenreed.

Max was thinner than Phil remember, but still big and strong looking. There were worry lines around his eyes and the slightest touch of grey at his temples. He wore a cheap suit and hadn’t shaved for at least three days. It was impossible to miss how tired he looked. He had a scar on the left side of his face that Phil didn’t remember. And, most surprisingly, from the expression of shock on his face, Max remembered Phil, as well.

“Thanks for calling me, Ash.” Max looked around at the other teenagers. “We’ll be alright. You kids go have fun and behave somewhere.”

As one, all the teenagers turned and looked at Ash. They waited in silence until Ash slowly nodded and only then did they disperse, leaving Phil with only Max and Ash.

A moment dragged by in which Phil turned his attention to Max and waited to see how Max would react. While Phil was very pleased to see his old friend, there was no telling how Max would react after years apart, especially when Max was in the middle of such a stressful, dangerous situation. 

Max broke out with a grin. “Phil!” He rushed in and grabbed Phil’s hand, shaking it happily. Phil smiled back and all was well. For a brief flash of a moment, the mission he was on took a backseat and Phil joyfully reunited with his old friend. Finally, Max stepped back, still smiling, and asked, “What are you doing here? You’re the last person I expected to see.”

“Business, I’m afraid. We should speak in private.”

Max glanced over at Ash and that caught Phil’s attention. The boy couldn’t possibly be older than eighteen, at most, and yet, the look Max gave him was almost as if he were consulting an equal. The boy shrugged then turned his face away. “Ash,” Max said. “Why don’t you go check on Michael? Tell Jessica I’ll be right back.”

Ash frowned. “Hey!” He snapped and it must have been some sort of command as Bones and Kong stepped into view. “You two go check on Jessica and the kid. Don’t leave ‘til I tell you to.”

“Yes, Boss.”

Ash added, before they could walk away, “Anything happens to them and I’ll kill you both.”

“Yes, Boss.” And then they were gone, apparently taking the threat as the most normal thing in the world.

Ash crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Max. “Now she’ll know what’s going on. Go on and talk.”

“Thanks,” Max told Ash. “This,” he gestured at Phil. “Is an old war buddy. He knew Griffin.”

That, Phil saw, startled the boy.

With every single moment that passed, Phil was becoming more and more curious - desperately curious - about Ash. To have Griffin’s name suddenly bring such a look of grief and pain to Ash’s face only made that curiosity burn hotter. “You know Griffin Callenreese?” Phil had only ever known one person named Griffin and that had definitely not been a name he’d expected Max to mention. “How?”

The emotions on Ash’s face vanished in a heartbeat, replaced by such coldness that it could have frozen a penguin. “You can take him to my place, Max.”

So they followed Ash through the city, far from the luxurious apartment house Ms. Randy was in, and to a neighborhood that had seen better days. The apartment house they took Phil to was a disaster. There was garbage around the front steps and in the halls inside. The whole place smelled of filth. The walls, ceiling, and carpet were all stained with years of cigarette smoke and other things Phil didn’t want to think about. They saw only one neighbor who started to open their door, took a quick look at Ash, then ducked back inside. Phil heard the slide of a deadbolt being put into place before they passed. Ash let them into a room that was shockingly tidy.

It was small, no question. There was one other door in the room, which Phil presumed was a bathroom door. There was a sink, but no stove and the only refrigerator was a tiny thing meant for college dorm rooms, just big enough for a few sodas and maybe some left-over pizza. There was a twin sized bed pushed up against a wall and near the foot of the bed was a small desk with a stack of books on it. One of the books caught Phil’s attention - Molecular Biology. He raised an eyebrow. The only other thing in the room was a little table with a chair. The room was clean from top to bottom. The floor was swept, the bed was made with military precision. There were no empty food wrappers laying around, as one might expect from a teenager. Phil didn’t even see any dirty laundry laying around.

Ash sat on the bed and gestured to the chair at the table. “Make yourself at home.” He said nothing when Max sat on the corner of the bed nearest to the chair and waited for Phil to sit.

“When I said private,” Phil sat after he’d turned the chair around so he could face Max. “I mean that I can only talk to Max.”

Ash narrowed his eyes then let out a little chuckle. “Yeah? Well, this is MY place, so I’m not going anywhere. Besides, even if I do, Max will tell me everything after you leave, anyway.” Then he leaned his back against the wall and seemed to relax. “Max, he said his name’s Phil Couson. Is that true?”

“Yes.” Max answered without hesitation before he turned his attention back to Phil and his happy, friendly expression had gone tense. Wary, but not angry. “What’s this about, Phil? Be straight with me.”

“I am here to talk to you about Club Cod. I want to help. We want to help.” Phil made sure to keep his hands in front of him. Medical reports from before Max had left the service had suggested that the tragic incident with Griffin had left Max with PTSD, though he’d never gone to get officially diagnosed or, as far as Phil could find, gone for any sort of therapy. War was bad enough, but to see a close friend and comrade murder friends without warning or reason, was enough to put even the most down-to-earth person on a psychiatrist’s couch for years. So he kept his hands in clear-sight, completely visible as he suspected that it might make Max feel more at ease, even if it was only subconsciously. “How have you been?”

“Fine.”

“The boy at the apartment... Congratulations on becoming a father. He seemed sensible; didn’t want to talk to strangers or let a stranger in the home.”

Max’s face turned away, a little. “About a year ago, some strangers arrived at his home. They... did bad things to his mother and forced him to watch. My boy doesn’t like strangers. Especially not strange men.”

Phil knew, of course. He’d done all the research he was able to about Max’s family and, as he’d had J.A.R.V.I.S. at his disposal, he was able to do a lot of research. Jessica, who had been divorced from Max at the time, had been home alone with her son, Michael. The police report stated that three men had broken into the house and gang-raped her in front of her six-year-old son. She’s spent almost six months in therapy and little Michael still wouldn’t talk about it. That Michael would be frightened of strangers was entirely understandable. “I’m sorry if I scared him. I could suggest an excellent therapist.”

“Thanks, but he won’t talk about it. Not yet.” Max went quiet for a moment. He looked down at his hands folded on the table, then up at Phil. He glanced at Ash, then said, “Griffin’s dead.”

Dead? Phil felt his whole body go numb. That should have been in Griffin’s medical file he’d dug up while doing research on Max. “What?”

“Last year he was shot in the chest. He was found at a local hospital’s emergency room’s entrance, but was d.o.a. and there was nothing they could do.”

“Shot? The last information I’d had was that he couldn’t walk or respond to outside stimulus. How did he get shot?” 

“I suppose you’ll find out when the trial starts, like everyone else. He’s part of the story. Now, we both know you’re not here for idle conversation so tell me what’s on your mind.”

Phil told Max everything he knew. Told him what he’d seen on the news, the safety concerns he had for the witness, how very badly everything could go, and he offered asylum in Avenger’s Tower for the witness. All the time Phil was talking, both Max and Ash stayed quiet. Phil ended by earnestly asking, “Will you tell me what you know about the situation?”

Max actually laughed. “Not for all the tea in China. Hey, you know how it is - I tell you, you tell a friend, and suddenly my house is on fire and my witness has a knife between his ribs.”

It was offensive to have anyone think he would betray them, but Phil held that at bay, knowing that Max has his reasons. “I wouldn’t do such a thing. When the report went public about Club Cod a friend at S.H.I.E.L.D. and I decided it was best to offer protection. You know what danger your witness is in, don’t you?”

Max stuffed his hands in his pockets and smiled up at the ceiling. “Sure I do. My witness does, too. The whole world is set to open fire and we’re right in the bull’s eye. But it’s nothing new. For the past year or so I’ve been shot, drugged, beaten, threatened, kidnapped... and I didn’t get it near so bad as other people.” His smile fell at all once and he stared at Phil, completely serious. “If you did your research, then you should be able to put the pieces together. This garbage has been going on a lot longer than anyone knows and there are poisoned tentacles that have crept into every level of society, all around the world. I know a lot better than you do about the danger.”

“Then you also understand that it’s not just you and your witness that are in danger. I respect your willingness to see this through to the end, but it’s just not possible to do it alone. We’re worried that if your witness doesn’t get assassinated before the trial, what he says will probably cause mass chaos around the world. Depending on who your witness names on the stand, there might be riots, people getting killed, destabilizing societies. S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Avengers are willing and able to give your witness the protection needed to get them to trial.”

“I know you mean well.” Max rubbed the back on his neck in an unconscious gesture that Phil remembered so well from the war. “But...it’s a matter of trust. Ya see, I have a whole list of people I’m going to put in prison, but there must be hundreds more that I don’t know the names of and those people think they’re in danger.”

“And that makes them dangerous,” Phil said.

“Right. I don’t know who all the enemy are, so how do I know your friend at S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t involved in this? How do I know your friend wasn’t a customer of Club Cod?”

The idea of Fury supporting such a thing... no. It was an impossibility, but Max didn’t know Fury. 

Max went on, “How about the other people who work at S.H.I.E.L.D.? Can you promise me - swear to me on your honor - that no one involved in your little operation is going to be on my list of names?”

Phil wanted to say ‘yes’, but knew that he couldn’t, in all honesty, speak for every single member of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

“Max,” Phil leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. “Do you trust me?”

Max didn’t answer for a minute and that hurt. Then he ran a hand over his brown hair and sighed. “Yeah. I guess.  
You did right by Griff and not many others wanted to. Not then. Not after what he did.”

“Then let me help. I want you to succeed. I watched when they brought those tiny body bags out of Club Cod. I live close enough that I could see it from my window. I want to help and I do know people, very good people that I trust to the end of the world. They will help and I swear on my life that they are honest and not one of their names will be on your list. Please, Max, you need help.”

With a long-suffering sigh, Max said, “I’d like to have help, but it’s not me who has to trust you. My witness... he doesn’t trust a lot of people.”

A man, then. It was more information than Phil had started with and he inwardly celebrated that tiny bit of information. “Will you tell me his name? I can talk to him, convince him...”

Max started to laugh. “Good God! Convince him? No one convinces him to do a damned thing! Look, I’ll have a word with him and see if he’s willing to meet you, but don’t get your hopes up.”

And Phil could see that it was the end of the conversation. So he nodded and stood up. “Thank you for talking with me. How can I get in contact with you, again?”

“You won’t. I’ll contact you.”

“Do you need my number?”

Max looked like he would laugh. “Phil, the whole world knows where you live, now. I think I can find the phone number for Tony Stark’s tower.” He stood up to leave and walked Phil to the door while Ash stayed behind. They went out on the sidewalk together and shook hands. “Don’t worry. I’ll call you sooner rather than later with an answer.”

As Max started to walk away, Phil called out to him, “One last thing - Ash. Who is he?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Max chuckled as he kept walking. “He’s my son.”

To be continued...


	3. Ash... Like Cinders

Chapter 3: Ash... Like Cinders

Phil-

“I gotta go out,” Tony announced later the same day. It was after they’d all eaten dinner that Tony had appeared in the common room wearing a suit and tie. That was unusual enough to get everyone’s attention. The sight of Tony in a suit was not an everyday occasion, but he was a businessman so there were days when even he had to look like a professional. “Remember that building of mine that that a helicopter crashed into a few days ago? It’s being investigated now, but there’s some complication so I need to go take a look. Shouldn’t take long. I’ll be back.”

And Tony was back, but not until just after 9 am the next morning. 

Everyone had finished breakfast, the kitchen was clean. Plans for the day were made and all was well until Tony, looking as put-together as he had when he’d left the tower, stormed in. He walked passed everyone sitting in the common room without a word and went straight for the liquor cabinet. He stood there, tense and unhappy, then turned and went into the kitchen for coffee. He drank two cups, then joined everyone in the common room. He sat in a chair, then stood up and circled the room. He sat, again.

“There are dead people everywhere.”

Everyone stared at Tony for a minute. 

Natasha solemnly nodded. “Yes. Is that bad?”

Oh, the thunderous look on Tony’s face was awful. “The fire destroyed a lot, but not everything. A helicopter flew into the side of the building and crashed when it fell to the street below. The pilot was found. But...” Tony swallowed, hard. “The police have been investigating since it happened. There were about twenty men inside, all dressed in some kind of military uniform. They’re all dead.”

Bruce sat back a little further in the overstuffed chair he’d curled up in. “Smoke inhalation or burns?”

“Neither. Bullets. They were shot. Every damned one of them. So,” Tony sprung back up to his feet and began his pacing, again. “Anyone have any idea why twenty men in military uniforms got shot in a building that was under construction the same time a helicopter crashed into it? Anyone? ‘Cause I don’t have any ideas!”

Phil frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but Tony was on a roll and kept talking.

“There’s evidence of a massive gunfight inside - bullets in walls, floors, ceilings, tables, and mostly in bodies. There are an absurd number of guns laying around. I don’t even know who they were fighting. All the bodies found seemed to be wearing the same uniform, but they weren’t wearing any kind of official insignia. If they were U.S. troops, I’ll eat my shoes! The forensic people are trying to figure out where the helicopter came from. They’re looking for some kind of identification, but it’s not much more than a big pile of burned metal.” Tony ran a hand through his hair, making him look rather like a hedgehog. “I think they had a war in my new department store and I really want to know who the other side was. J.A.R.V.I.S., you found anything in local surveillance cameras, yet?”

“No, sir. The helicopter’s crash and explosion seems to have damaged much of the recordings that would have been useful and many other cameras appear to have been deliberately disabled.”

“They’ve got authorities going over the whole place now, collecting bodies and evidence, and trying to figure it all out.” Tony pulled off his necktie and tossed it over the back of the sofa. “I can’t do anything now but wait. God, what a nightmare. I want a drink.”

Phil snapped to attention, though he tried not to show it, but was relieved when Tony walked to the kitchen and got a glass of water. It was hard for Tony, but he was doing so well. ‘The liquor cabinet,’ Phil thought, ‘really should be taken out of the common room.’

“And get this,” Tony returned to them and put his water on the coffee table as he started to pace again. For all the world, he had apparently forgotten that he was thirsty. “We do know one thing - there wasn’t a single bit of identification on any of them. We’re waiting for fingerprints to come back with something.” He paused. “I wonder if it has anything to do with Hydra.”

“Possibly,” Phil said. “I can’t imagine what they’d want with your new building, but maybe the building was targeted simply because it was yours. You are the highest profile member of the Avengers.” Phil sat back in his chair but couldn’t quite relax into the softness. Tony didn’t buy cheap furniture, so the chair was the best to be had. Tony hadn’t really cared about the cost, he’d picked it out because he’d liked the color. It was wonderfully comfortable, but all Phil could focus on was the fact that one of his team might be, once again, in the cross hairs of Hydra. He didn’t like it. His stomach churned, uneasily. He’s was sure he was getting an ulcer and rubbed at his stomach, thoughtlessly. “You said they wore military uniforms?”

“Sort of. There wasn’t anything on the uniforms to identify any of the men as from any particular nation.”

Steve, who had been listening to the radio with Bruce, said, “I think we should be more concerned with who killed them. They’re still out there and if they can do that to soldiers, then who knows what else they’re capable of? Civilians are in danger.”

“Don’t forget the ‘why’.” Clint added in. He sat the fireplace and Phil had thought he’d been napping, but he sounded wide-awake. “Why were all those soldiers at your building in the first place, Tony? Why would there be a battle there? It must have been at night when the construction workers had gone home, so whatever was going on was to be kept secret.”

Natasha flipped a page in her book, never lifting her eyes from the words. “I expect something was wanted. Two groups wanted the same thing and the result is that the dead men left at the construction site lost and whoever killed them got whatever they were battling over.” She flipped another page.

“What could be so important that they’d kill for it?” Bruce asked. He sat on the floor, his feet bare, and pulled his knees up to his chest. “Soldiers are very tough; whoever killed them must be strong. Bold, too. They didn’t care if the bodies were found and might lead back to them.”

Natasha closed her book with a sharp snap and sniffed with disdain. “That is careless. No matter how strong, to leave casualties behind... sloppy. Unprofessional.” Natasha did take her profession very seriously. She was not, Phil had noticed when he’d first started working with Natasha, proud of what she did. She wasn’t ashamed, either. Assassination... information collection... deception... all of it was part of her training and while Natasha had never been overly talkative about what the Red Room had done to her during her training in her childhood, Phil had gathered enough information to understand that the training had been harsh and unforgiving. It was no wonder at all that she was so good at what she did. Despite all that, Natasha seemed to have the philosophy that as she was good at certain things, she might as well put those skills to good use. As her understanding of morality was a bit warped from her training, to Natasha ‘good use’ often became simply whatever Phil or Clint told her it was. It had been an unsettling realization, the first time Phil had come to understand that he had that kind of power. They were only recently beginning to teach her to question orders if they didn’t seem right, but it was an uphill battle.

“Sloppy or not,” Tony slumped down on the sofa, scowling. “I want the mess cleaned up. It’s going to be a real nightmare until we can find out who killed those men and why. Hopefully, the cops will find some clues. More than what they already have, I mean.”

Steve sat up a little straighter. “They have a clue? Well!” His face brightened a little. “That’s something to work with, anyway. What do they have? A fingerprint?”

“A bullet. Remember the helicopter that crashed into the side of the building? Well, the cops managed to pull the pilot’s body out and sent him along to the coroner for an autopsy. Turns out he was shot in the head with a bullet from some kind of ridiculously overpowered rifle. According to the coroner, it was shot from the rooftop of the building across the street from mine.”

“Well,” Steve settled back next to Bruce on the floor by the radio. The radio looked like an antique, one of the big wooden types Steve would have seen in his youth, though Tony had insisted that all the working components were modern and had even assembled them himself. It had been a birthday present for Steve. “I suppose it’s not much of a clue, but it’s better than nothing. I sure hope the police can find whoever did it. I know the soldiers were probably up to no good - I sure can’t think of any respectable reason they’d be up there at night - but it’s possible they were just legitimate servicemen on some mission we weren’t informed about and whoever the enemy was got the better of them. I’d hate to think innocent soldiers would be forever thought of as criminals.”

“Or,” Tony said. “They might have been criminals dressed up like soldiers. Sorry, but I already checked with the military authorities and there’s no record of anything going on around here.”

“Oh,” Steve’s shoulders slumped.

There wasn’t much else to say about it until some more investigation... Phil paused in that thought. “Tony, did you bring home something to research? Did you take evidence?”

Only then did Tony grin like the Cheshire Cat. “No, but I said I’d help when they don’t find anything. Really! As if their equipment can out-perform J.A.R.V.I.S.!”

“Thank you for the vote of confidence, sir.”

“No problem.”

It was not much longer after that when Phil left the common room and headed down to the lobby for his daily newspaper. It could have been delivered, of course, but Phil liked taking a little walk everyday. He walked down the many, many stairs and, by the time he went back up to their apartments at the top of the tower, his daily workout would have been nicely started. So, just after noon he walked into the lobby. It was just as lavish as everything else about the tower. The floor was covered in polished marble. A receptionist’s desk sat square in the middle of the large room, facing the glass doors that led out to the street. There were fine paintings on the walls and comfortable seating all around. On the receptionist’s desk sat Phil’s newspaper, as always. He walked straight for it and was just about to take it, when another hand darted out and snatched the newspaper.

The newspaper snatcher was a teenage boy wearing blue jeans with the knees torn open, a hooded sweatshirt that was at least one size too big, and bright red sneakers. He kept his face lowered for a minute, as he studied the headlines of the newspaper, then said, in a familiar voice. “You’ll want to come with me. Max is waiting.” The boy looked up and pulled a pair of sunglasses off his face. Ash. He looked entirely different without his pressed slacks and the bright colored sweater-vest.

“I should tell my people where I’m going.”

Ash re-folded the newspaper and tossed it back on the desk. “That’s gonna be hard since you don’t know where you’re going. Come on.”

Phil might have argued, but he knew well enough that J.A.R.V.I.S. was everywhere in the tower and, therefore, knew exactly what was going on. He would tell the others. So he discretely put a hand in his pocket to reassure himself that he hadn’t forgotten his cell phone and followed Ash out of the building. He hadn’t gone more than three paces before J.A.R.V.I.S. came through and Phil’s cell phone rang. Phil smiled his most reassuring smile when Ash turned at the sound and frowned at him. “Sorry. This will only take a minute.” He stepped a few paces away from Ash, keeping him in sight but far enough away that he wouldn’t be overheard. “Hello.”

Tony answered with, “Are you safe? J.A.R.V.I.S. just said you left with someone he doesn’t know who didn’t want you to talk to us. Clint and Nat are on their way down.”

“Don’t panic. My friend, Max, just sent a messenger to fetch me. I’m going to meet with the witness. He didn’t want to meet at the tower.”

Tony groaned. “Are you telling me that the witness doesn’t trust us? We’re the Avengers! What’s not to trust? I mean - jeeze! - we’ve got Captain America, for goodness sakes! Who’s more trustworthy than that? We’ve got Bruce, the biggest bunny rabbit on the planet. He can’t think we’re going to hurt him.”

“The witness knows the deck is stacked against him, so he’s right to be cautious. Don’t take it personally. Besides, you don’t really want this person in your home any sooner than necessary, do you?”

“Of course not. If he wasn’t so useful, I’d throw all my lawyers at him and get him put behind bars for the rest of his life! I hate that we’re helping someone like this. But I want you to be safe, too. Well, at least Clint and Nat can keep you out of trouble. They should be there soon.”

“They are.” Phil could see them both hovering a distance away, watching. “I have to go before my escort gets antsy. I’ll be safe.”

They started walking again and Ash appeared to be content to be silent. They walked all through the city and it was impossible for Phil to notice how people would stop and stare at Ash. He felt quite invisible. It was mostly teenagers who would stop whatever they were doing the moment they saw Ash and they all watched him with a strange expression that Phil could almost call awe, though it might have been fear. 

“Would it be rude for me to ask who you are, exactly?” Phil finally said. Based on their last meeting, he didn’t have much hope of an answer, but figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. “Max said you were his son, but my research shows that he only has one child.”

Ash didn’t look at Phil. “The old man is sentimental.”

“You commanded those boys in the park the other day. They listened to you.”

Ash shrugged, apparently pushing the idea away as unimportant. “You talk a lot. No wonder the old man said you’re his friend. The pair of you just talk, talk, talk.”

“Maybe so. I would like to give you a warning. I’m honestly a little puzzled why Max hasn’t done so already. You should find somewhere else to be for a while. You heard what Max and I were talking about yesterday; this is going to get dangerous. It’s no place for a kid.”

Ash looked at Phil over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yes. I strongly suspect you may be part of a gang. I saw the gun you carry and I know those other kids respect you. All the same, you don’t know what you’re getting into.”

Ash stopped walking and pulled down his sunglasses to get a better look at Phil. He looked like he wanted to laugh. Ash put his sunglasses back up and started walking, again. “Look, I know you’re trying to help, but don’t waste your breath. We’re almost there. Max will explain things.”

They walked through the city and into Chinatown and stopped at a tiny restaurant that looked like a thousand other little restaurants. It had a sign over the front door that read, “Chang Dai Restaurant”. At a glance, there was nothing special about the place. There were a few broken tiles on the floor. One ceiling light wasn’t working. It had ten tables and a counter. There was a young woman there, small and delicate with pixie cut black hair and a serious, almost severe expression. There were only three other people in the restaurant - the young woman, Ash, and Max. 

“This is all a bit elaborate isn’t it, Max?” Phil nodded a greeting to the young woman. He looked around, very carefully, but there was no one else and nowhere else the witness could be hiding.

“Can we have a minute, Nadia?” Max asked the young woman. She nodded. Nadia went to the front door and locked it, hanging a ‘closed’ sign in the window before she left the room without a word and Max didn’t speak again until the door closed behind her. “Have a seat, Phil.” He gestured to the table where Ash sat and waited until Phil was seated before he sat, too. Once there, Max rubbed the back of his neck. “Right. Okay. See...” He stopped talking and looked at Ash, then back at Phil. “I trust you, Phil. We served together and I think we knew each other pretty well, but it’s been years, so you’ll understand this isn’t easy. But you were always a good friend, even when things got rough.”

“I hope I’m still a good friend. Let me help. Please. Where is your witness?”

Max smiled. “I told you I’d introduce him, didn’t I?” Max gestured at Ash. “Ash Lynx, meet Philip Coulson. Phil, meet my witness, Ash Lynx. Otherwise known as Aslan J. Callenreese. He’s Griffin’s little brother.”

For a moment, it felt like Phil’s brain froze. Then he took a breath. “Right. Of course. Griff?”

“Griff.”

Phil looked closer at Ash. He didn’t look much like Griffin. Griffin had been big and solid with a broad, amiable face. There had been a softness to him, a gentle quality that always took everyone by surprise when they found that quality in a soldier. Ash was small and skinny and hard. His eyes, his cold expression, everything about him seemed hard, like he’d been carved from granite. He sat at the table, slouched in his chair, but his eyes were so intense that Phil couldn’t be fooled into thinking Ash was at all relaxed. He was tense, but didn’t seem angry. He was young, too, so much younger than Griffin had been the last time Phil had seen him. Griffin had been barely more than a boy at twenty-two-years-old and Ash couldn’t possibly be that old so...

Phil felt cold, all over. He actually shivered as a disturbing thought drifted to the forefront of his mind. “Ash is the witness.”

Max nodded. “Yeah. He’s the witness.”

There was no possible way that a teenage boy would have been used as a guard in a child sex-slave organization or in any kind of administrative position. Which meant... “Ash, were you...” There was no tactful way to phrase the question. “Were you a victim of Club Cod?”

The narrowing of Ash’s eyes was the only hint that Phil had hit a sore spot. Ash’s voice was a cold as ice when he answered, “Do I look like a victim? I survived Club Cod. And, yeah, before you ask, I really am going to testify about it. You said you wanted to offer protection.”

“Yes, of course.” And that protection would have to be enhanced now that Phil knew they were dealing with a victim, and not an adult employee of Club Cod looking to protect his own skin as they’d thought. This detail changed everything. “The main protection we can offer is location. You can stay in the Avenger’s Tower until the trial. With the technology in use there, no one will be able to get in without express permission from the Avenger’s.”

“Forget it. I don’t need your help.” Ash said it briskly as he leaned forward, putting his arms on the table in front of him. “I can guard my own hide.”

It was a ridiculous idea. “Do you have any idea the kinds of threats you’re facing?”

“Sure.” Ash listed off the names of several high-ranking politicians both in America and in other countries. He shrugged, carelessly. Phil recognized the names and felt sick. He’d never have suspected them. Ash said, “If they aren’t afraid of what I’ll say, they should be. Want me to tell you which old dude has a mole on his butt? I’ve seen it all. Literally.”

“If you know the danger then you must know that you need help, whether you want it or not.”

“Look, Max said he’d talk to me and he did. I’m talking to you and I’m refusing your offer.”

Phil asked, “Why? Why on Earth would you refuse protection from the Avengers?”

“Why would I not want to be locked up and my every move controlled by a bunch of old people who can easily overpower me? Gee, let’s think about that one for a bit...” He rolled his eyes and pulled the hood up over his bright blonde hair. “This meeting is done. Go away.”

And Ash wouldn’t be budged. Phil had no choice but to leave after saying farewell to Max and quietly asking him to have Ash reconsider. As he walked out of the Chang Dai thinking about how he could set up a discrete protection detail for Ash.

Later-  
Ash-

In his little apartment, Ash stood by the window watching the crowds flow by on the sidewalk outside. He shoved his hands into his pockets and stared. He turned and leaned his back against one of the brick walls. He’d kept this tiny apartment for two years. It had been a gift. There were two deadbolts on the door, a chain lock, and a key lock. The windows were secure, too. Not only were they locked, but he’d deliberately painted them closed.

The meeting at Chang Dai had left Ash uncomfortable. Being in Chang Dai was painful in itself as he’d kept expecting Shorter to walk out from the kitchen. Of course, he didn’t. Having Max’s friend offer protection was a whole new level of weird. Ash trusted Max to the end of the world, but he still put Phil in the category of ‘garbage’ until further notice. He had caught Phil trying to get Michael to open the apartment door and he couldn’t stand for that sort of thing. So Ash couldn’t decide if the apparently generous offer of help was genuine or some elaborate trick and he wasn’t willing to take the risk. 

“Well?” Max asked. “What are you thinking?” Max sat at the table, his hands folded in front of him.

“I don’t need a bunch of rich guys in spandex to help.”

Max chuckled. “Yeah, I thought you’d say something like that. I’m surprised you let Phil come here yesterday.”

Ash shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, now. I can’t keep this place. Too dangerous.”

“Really?” Max looked at Ash, disbelieving. “You can’t tell me a lot of people know you live here.”

“This place was a present from... from Dino. He kept records about everything so all someone has to do is go hunting through his stuff and they’ll find it. He gave this place to me on my sixteenth birthday. This and a flashy red car. He paid all the bills.”

Max was quiet for a time. His eyebrows drew together, a sure sign of his growing ire. 

Ash laughed. “Don’t get mad. This was my reward, after all. I’d proved he could trust me not to run away so he gave me a car. I’d proved I’d go back to him when he called, so he gave me this place. It’s my privacy.” Ash went to run a hand over one of the deadbolts on the door. “I never got any locks on the door when Dino made me live with him, but I have locks here. Doesn’t matter. Someone will come looking for me here, now, so I have to give it up.”

“I almost want to say I’m sorry, but I’m not.” Max looked around the little apartment with still growing anger. “You don’t need to be living off his dime. He’s not paying for you, anymore. You deserve better than this.”

“Hey, I took good care of this place.” And he had. Ash had spent hours cleaning it when Dino had given him the rat infested apartment. At the time, Ash had thought Dino might have meant it as a test and expected Ash to go running back to Dino’s mansion with the down-filled pillows and satin bed sheets, but Ash had been thrilled at the prospect of privacy. Even if it wasn’t really his. It was only his so long as Dino said it was, just like the clothes on his back were only his if Dino said he could have them, and he got an education so long as Dino allowed it. So Ash had cleaned and found a table and bed at the local thrift store. He’d been given the desk. That had been a present, but not from Dino. Ash ran a hand over the top of the desk in a rare show of sentimentality. “I took really good care of everything here.”

“You sure did, kid. Do you want to bring anything with you,” Max asked. “I can bring the truck over.”

“I don’t want to call too much attention to myself by carrying out a lot of big furniture. It’s better to abandon it all.” He stared at the desk. He really hated to give that up. “Maybe my book.” He picked up a battered copy of ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ off the desk. That had been a present, too. He’d read it four times, but hadn’t finished his current reading. There were other books on the desk, too. School books Dino had given him, everything from advanced algebra to Greek philosophy to computer programming. Dino had always liked to brag that he gave Ash a well-rounded education. Ash didn’t care for those books. He dug out a ‘Field and Stream’ magazine and a picture book of ‘The Little Engine that Could’. He glared at Max. “Not a word! Michael said it was his favorite book and he wanted to let me read it, so shut up!”

“I didn’t say a word. Although... ‘Field and Stream’?”

Ash shrugged, as if it didn’t matter. “I thought... maybe. Someday. Griff used to say he’d take me fishing when I got older. Maybe, after the trial, I might try it.”

Max nodded. “That’s a fine idea. If you want we can take all your books. There’s plenty of room in the other apartment. It’ll make us all feel better if you stay with Jessica and Michael, anyway.”

“Those books are from Dino. I don’t need them. Throw them away, for all I care.”

“I’m sorry. We can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Use your head. If they’re from Dino, then they’re evidence. Those books, this place... everything is evidence.”

Ash nodded. It was logical. So they agreed to keep paying rent on the apartment while Ash would go live with Jessica and Michael. Max would keep a distance because his name was public knowledge so if there was anyone looking to kill the witness, they would likely target Max and anyone near him would be put in danger.

They started to leave, Ash with his books and a set of clothes, and at the door, Ash took a last look over his shoulder. He felt a pang of regret at having to leave it, but shoved the feeling aside. It wasn’t practical to be bothered by such things. His eyes fell back to his desk. That really was his. Dino hadn’t paid a single penny for it. It wasn’t practical. No point in taking such a big thing - it would attract too much attention. He could get another desk, after all. But even if he did get a new one and even if it looked exactly the same, it wouldn’t be his desk.

Ash pushed the self-pity aside. It was useless. He straightened his shoulders and followed Max out of the room and a little closer to the trial.

To be continued...


	4. Precious Student

Chapter 4: Precious Student

Blanca-

In an old building that had once been a hat factory, Blanca stood over his target.

Blanca was a professional.

As a professional he did not allow emotions to interfere with his work and always carried out whatever contract he’d agreed to. That being said, he wasn’t currently under contract to anyone which made the situation unique. He acted under his own will and decided for himself what would happen. A small part of him, deeply buried, enjoyed the thrill.

His shoes tapped on the cement floors and echoed against the walls as he walked around his target. Blanca was a big man and he knew how to use that to his advantage. He’d been taught very well. Standing at an imposing seven foot, two inches and just over three hundred pounds of muscle, Blanca towered over just about everyone. He certain towered over Angie. “Now, Angie,” Blanca said as he circled the man. “I’m going to kill you.”

Angie had a bullet wound in one shoulder, but that hadn’t been Blanca’s work. Ash had put it there. Angie was very ordinary looking. One wouldn’t notice him if one passed him on the street, but he had worked for Dino Golzine and he had hurt Blanca’s precious student more than once. 

Angie fumed. His whole body tensed and Blanca knew Angie was looking for a way out of the situation. There wasn’t one, but Angie could be excused for hoping. “You betrayed Papa Dino! Siding with that whore!” Angie went on with several more colorful words describing Ash and Blanca didn’t approve.

“There’s really no need to be crude. Ash is a good boy and I didn’t betray anyone. I carried out the agreed upon contract exactly. When that contract was fulfilled, I left. I always carry out my contracts. I have a perfect record, I’ll have you know.”

“Damn you and your record!”

Really, Angie was very impolite. Not that Blanca had expected better. Blanca kept circling him and while Angie also kept turning to keep Blanca in sight, Blanca had no trouble at all lashing out with one hand and jabbing his finger into a pressure point on Angie’s throat that had Angie crying out in pain as he collapsed to the floor on his knees. “You should think better of Ash; he didn’t kill you when he had the chance. He could have. My precious student could have easily killed you.” Blanca had no doubt of that. ‘Ah, my kitten,’ Blanca had thought when he’d realized that Ash had given up a kill shot to simply wound Angie and put him out of commission for a little while. ‘You missed that shot deliberately. You must have. To miss a shot at such a short distance? No. You left him alive when you should have killed him. You always had a soft heart.’ He had known long ago that Ash didn’t have the heart for cold murder. Oh, he could kill readily enough in self-defense or in defense of someone else, but if he didn’t have to, he didn’t kill. It was one bad habit that Blanca hadn’t been able to train Ash out of. ‘Never mind. I’ll take care of these little loose ends so you don’t have to deal with them, Ash.’ 

“If you think I’m going to be grateful to Papa’s little mistress...”

“Oh, I don’t expect anything of you except answers. When Ash and his gang ambushed Monsieur Golzine’s car you and Gregory were in it. I found you at the car. So, tell me - where is Gregory? Where would he have gone?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s a lie.” Because it was a lie, obviously. Angie had been a ruthless and obedient soldier for Dino Golzine, but he was not a good liar and never had been. Lying had been a large part of Blanca’s training as a child and he’d taught Ash the same lessons in effective lying. Ash had, as always, been a very clever student.

“How should I know where Gregory went?” Angie protested. “I was unconscious until I woke up here with you looming over me!”

“True. I found you where Ash left you and brought you here.” Blanca knelt down in front of Angie. “You and Gregory have been standing right beside Golzine long before his war with Ash began. You were there when he took Ash into his house as a child and kept him as a plaything. You were there when Ash attempted to break free. You were there when Golzine murdered people close to Ash as he attempted to retrieve him. You were there when Golzine used that evil drug to poison Shorter Wong and you were there when Golzine took so many street children as prisoners in order to bring Ash to heel. You were there, in Golzine’s car, with Gregory when Ash and his gang ambushed Golzine’s car and took him hostage to exchange him for all the street children. What you don’t know is that Golzine is dead.” The look of shock on Angie’s face was rewarding. “Golzine’s cohort decided to kill him rather than give in to Ash’s demands.” Blanca looked steadily into Angie’s eyes and kept smiling. “So, all that time you’ve spent with Gregory, all those years working and living together, and you expect me to believe he never once mentioned any sort of safe house or hide out? No, I can’t believe that. I feel certain you know something and I feel certain that you’re going to tell me what it is you know.”

“Like Hell!” Angie tried to get up, but Blanca easily lashed out one foot and kicked Angie in the knee. The knee popped when it was dislocated and Angie, again, went down in pain. He clutched at his leg and cursed Blanca. He screamed a second time when Blanca kicked his other knee and dislocated that one, too.

“I would like you to think very carefully, Angie. You see, my precious student is on the threshold of a new life,” Blanca smiled and looked away from Angie. The last time he’d seen Ash, Ash had been happy. Happier than Blanca had ever seen him. A tiny bit of surveillance had shown that Ash was keeping company with the Glenreed family. It was good. They seemed like decent people, as far as Blanca understood such things. He refocused on Angie. “I won’t allow you or anyone else to disrupt that new life.” He had visions of Ash going to college, becoming a professor of something or other. He’d go home every night to someone who loved him. Yes, his kitten would have a fine life - a life that Blanca had never had and likely never would have. “There are so few of Golzine’s men left and only two who have any personal reason to hurt Ash - you and Gregory. You were both so very loyal to Golzine; Ash’s war against him must have seemed like an insult to you. And then Ash went on to openly attack Golzine. You must have hated how incompetent he made you look. So, you’re going to tell me where Gregory is before I kill you.”

“You’ll never find him.”

“Oh, now really! Do you remember why Golzine signed a contract with me?”

“To train Ash.”

“That’s right. He paid me to teach Ash, to make him dangerous and foster his intelligence. He paid me for years and gave me complete discretion when it came to Ash’s education for the simple reason that I am the best. You think I won’t find Gregory? As I said - my record is perfect and even if I do this job without any contract at all, I will not break my record now. I will find Gregory, sooner or later. I’m a very patient man.”

“I won’t help you. I’ll never tell you anything.”

“Of course you will. Do you know what Golzine wanted me to teach Ash? Marksmanship was only part of my precious student’s education. I have taught Ash everything he knows, including how to put someone in pain and keep them there for weeks without allowing them to die. Ash is able to torture people with the correct motivation, but I consider myself a master of the art. I’m very accomplished and, unlike my precious student, I have very few morals to restrain me.” He reached under his long coat and pulled out a knife. It wasn’t especially impressive, only three inches long, but it had served Blanca well for many years. “I’m going to hurt you until you tell me everything you know about where Gregory might have gone and then I’ll kill you.” It pleased Blanca greatly to see how pale Angie went as he finally realized the dire situation he was in. “I won’t allow anyone to hurt my precious student.” 

Angie began to frantically shake his head. “I won’t. I swear I won’t go near him, Blanca. You’ve got to believe me.”

“Oh, I know you won’t go near him. Not anymore. I remember when I’d been in the employ of Golzine for less than two weeks.” He remembered that day and frowned. Back in those days, he had truly believed that Ash could never belong in any other life than a life of violence Golzine had trapped him in and he had thought it a good thing that Ash had found himself in a position to benefit from Golzine’s obsession with him. It was not a happy life, but Ash would never go hungry or cold. Perhaps he’d been wrong... perhaps not. Regardless, Ash wanted a life away from crime so, with Golzine dead, that was possible and Blanca wanted to give it to him. “I remember walking down a hall in Golzine’s mansion and seeing you walk out of a room. When I went into that room, I found Ash all disheveled, putting his jeans on. He’d been crying. He saw me looking at him and he looked so ashamed. He was only fourteen - a child. I know what you did to my precious student that day and I thoroughly disapprove. So many people have hurt him over his life. You were one of them. You hurt him and you enjoyed it. I always regretted that I didn’t save Ash from that life when he was younger, that I didn’t understand how he could have anything better. Now I do. Now, he is free and I won’t allow anyone to take that from him.” So Blanca took immense pleasure in the fear on Angie’s face.

Two severed fingers, one punctured eardrum, and a pint of blood later and Blanca had all the information he felt Angie could give him. He killed Angie with a single bullet to the back of the head - quick and clean. After all, Blanca wasn’t cruel. He left that old factory, intent on finding Gregory.

Michael-

Michael was asleep when he heard the door open. His eyes sprung open, all sleep driven from him. He stayed as still as he could and hugged his teddy bear tightly. His heart raced fearfully. In this apartment daddy had brought them to when they’d left their home in California and come to New York, Michael shared the only bedroom with his mommy. Michael’s night light cast enough light that he could look across the room to where mommy was asleep in her bed. Her long, blonde hair was tied into a neat braid and hung over the side of the bed like a rope. Her eyes opened and she smiled at him as she started to get out of bed. She pulled on a bathrobe before Michael sat up and whispered,

“Don’t go!” 

“It’s alright,” mommy whispered. “Everything’s fine. Daddy’s the only one who can open the door. Remember?”

That was true. Ash had given daddy the key and promised Michael that there was only one key. “This way no one else can get in,” Ash had said. 

Ash never lied, so Michael tried to relax. “Can I see daddy, too?”

“Sure, but then it’s right back to bed.”

Michael took his teddy bear with him and didn’t entirely relax until he actually saw daddy in the living room of the apartment. All was good then, because no one could hurt them so long as daddy was around. Sometimes, Michael had nightmares about the bad men hurting mommy and he wished he was as strong as his daddy so he could have saved her. Those bad men had torn mommy’s clothes and touched her and she’d screamed and cried and Michael couldn’t do anything.

Daddy saw them and stepped closer to mommy which let Michael see who was standing behind daddy.

“Ash!” Michael squealed and ran to Ash so fast he almost slipped in his footie-pajamas, but daddy caught Michael and gave him a hug before passing him over to Ash’s waiting arms. “Hi, daddy. I missed you, Ash!”

“Missed you, too, kid.” Ash and Michael hugged before Michael was set back down. “Hope you don’t mind if I spend the night.” It was only then that Michael saw a small pile of clothes on the coffee table and a couple of books, including ‘The Little Engine that Could’ book he’d let Ash borrowed because Ash had never read it.

“You’re staying? Really?” Michael could only be happier if daddy was finally staying home, too. He took hold of Ash’s hand and pulled him over to the coffee table. “Where are you gonna sleep? Will daddy get you a new bed?”

“Naw. I’ll take the couch. I’ve slept in worse places.”

“If you come to California with us, you can live in the guest room.” The guest room, mommy had once explained, was for very important people to stay in. Ash entirely qualified as a ‘very important person’ in Michael’s mind. “We have a yard and a swing set and we can go to the park.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Mommy had taken Michael into the bedroom for a talk and explained that Ash needed a safe place to stay so he would stay with them for a little while. Michael was thrilled. He wanted Ash to stay forever. So he helped mommy to bring Ash a pillow and a blanket and then wanted to sit with Ash on the couch for a few minutes before he went back to bed. He fell asleep within five minutes.

The next time Michael woke up, he was laying down on the couch and the blanket he’d brought for Ash was covering him. He blinked and rubbed his eyes. He could hear voices.

“What are you doing here?” Ash’s voice was soft.

“Playing mailman. Here. It’s a letter from Eiji. He wanted me to give this to you.”

That was a voice Michael had never heard, but Ash was there and didn’t sound worried, so Michael didn’t panic. He lay there and waited for Ash’s friend to go away.

Ash was quiet for a time. “Thanks.”

“He’ll be in Japan, now. Sorry, but I couldn’t find you before his plane left.”

“I’ve been busy. The trial...”

Michael sat up a little and peeked over the back of the couch. There was Ash, by the door, talking with a boy. The boy was bigger than Michael, but smaller than Ash and he looked a lot like the men who’d hurt mommy. Michael sank down far enough that he could only barely see over the couch. He didn’t like the boy and wanted him to go away, but Ash wasn’t afraid. Ash didn’t even look at the boy, he was reading a letter. The apartment was dark, but the light from the hall cast enough light on Ash’s face that Michael could see him smiling.

“He wants me to go to Japan. He sent a plane ticket,” Ash said, softly. “I guess he wasn’t joking.”

“Joking?” The other boy said. “Even I know he wouldn’t joke about this. Eiji wanted you to go to Japan with him. We all knew that.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. Me, Kong, Bones, Cain... everyone. Jeeze, Ash. He tried to kill Golzine for you. He took a bullet for you. He cooked for you and did your laundry! Why would you doubt him?”

Ash opened his mouth, then closed it. “Never mind. It’s better if he stays in Japan, now. He’s still hurt and the danger isn’t gone. I won’t bring more danger to him.”

The other boy sighed. “Just think about calling him on the phone, then. He’ll understand if you explain everything - you know he will - and saying nothing will hurt him.”

The other boy left and Ash closed and locked the door. He stood there for a while, staring at the letter. Then he came back to the living room and Michael closed his eyes so Ash wouldn’t know he was awake. Ash sat on one of the chairs and stayed quiet, but every time Michael opened his eyes to look at him, Ash was staring at the letter. Michael glared at the letter and almost cried. It sure sounded like Eiji wanted Ash to leave and go to Japan. That wasn’t right. Ash was supposed to stay with Michael and be his big brother.

The night went on and Michael fell back to sleep. When he woke up, the sun was rising and Ash was still looking at the letter, still sitting in his chair. Michael got up and got dressed and ate some cereal and all the time Ash sat in his chair and read his letter. Michael went back to the couch and turned on cartoons to watch, hoping Ash would watch with him. After a little while, Ash stood up and pulled on his long coat.

“Hey, Old Lady!” Ash called out. “I’m going out for a bit.”

Mommy called back from the kitchen. “Be careful, Brat.”

“Sure thing, Old Lady. Lock the door behind me.”

“Right. Right.”

The minute the door closed behind Ash, Michael stood up. He looked at the door and then at the door that led to the kitchen. Mommy didn’t come out straight away. Michael thought for a moment, then went to quietly get his coat.

There was a rule Michael had to follow ever since the bad men had hurt mommy at their home in California. Michael was never to leave the house alone, not even to play in the backyard. It was a rule. Mommy was very firm about the rule. In the city, he had to stay in the apartment. He couldn’t even go to school. He’d been inside the apartment for days. So of course, when he saw Ash walk out of the apartment Michael wanted to go with him. If he went with Ash, then he wasn’t alone and wasn’t breaking any rules.

Michael quickly put on his coat. It was his favorite coat - the one with the frogs on the pockets - and followed Ash out the door.

The hall was empty. Michael looked down the hall to the elevator. If Ash was going out, then he must have gone outside and that meant Michael had to go down to the first floor. Michael walked to the elevator, he knew he wasn’t supposed to run inside, and pushed the right button that would take him down to the first floor. He felt very grown-up and was sure Ash would be proud of him for figuring it out on his own. He got down to the first floor just in time to see Ash leave the building and turn right. Michael followed, walking as quickly as he could, but the minute he got out onto the sidewalk, he froze.

Strangers. There were strangers all over the place! People were everywhere, going this way and that, and Michael was afraid. He didn’t like strangers. He wanted to run back inside. Strangers hurt people and did bad things. But... he saw Ash still walking away. Ash wouldn’t be afraid of strangers, Michael decided. Determined, Michael hurried after Ash. “Ash!” Michael called out as loudly as he dared. He didn’t dare very loudly because he didn’t want all the strangers to look at him, but he did keep calling out, getting closer and closer to Ash as he quickened his pace and felt all his anxiety about being in the city with strangers slip away the closer he got to Ash. Soon, he was only a few yards behind and smiling happily.

He got so close that he could almost reach out and grab Ash’s arm. Michael opened his mouth to call out, again, certain that Ash would hear him, when a man bumped into Ash. Ash jerked and, in a flash, reached behind him and pulled something out from under his coat. There was a loud sound, like thunder. Everyone on the sidewalk screamed and started running and the crowds vanished. The other man, who was much bigger than Ash, fell to the ground and didn’t get back up.

Michael stopped walking and stared. He felt funny in his tummy. Something was wrong. Something bad. Michael was afraid. The man on the ground was bleeding. Ash’s arm hung at his side and Michael saw then what Ash had taken from under his coat - a gun. To see Ash with a gun was a terrifying sight. Ash put the gun back under his coat. He started walking, slowly, as if he were suddenly exhausted.

With a swallow so hard that it felt like he was almost choking, Michael broke into a run. “Ash!” He grabbed Ash’s arm the moment he was in reach. “Ash, you okay?” Michael’s voice trailed away when he saw the blood. There was blood all over Ash’s shirt near his tummy. Ash had his hand pressed against it, but the blood leaked around his hand. Michael looked up at Ash, white-faced. “What happened?”

Ash blinked down at Michael. He looked very pale and his breathing was weird. “Oh... kid...” He took a deep, painful sounding breath. “You’re not supposed to leave the apartment without your mom or dad. What are you... I’m sorry. I didn’t want... I’m so sorry.”

“You’re bleeding.” And, just like when the bad men hurt mommy, Michael didn’t know what to do. He felt his eyes starting to burn and he rubbed them to stop himself from crying.

Ash tucked his letter from Eiji in his pocket and took Michael’s hand. “Don’t be afraid. I won’t let you get hurt.” He started walking, leading Michael slowly down the sidewalk. “I’ll protect you.”

“We gotta go to mommy,” Michael squeezed Ash’s hand. “She’ll know what to do.” He tried very, very hard not to cry - Ash wouldn’t cry for anything! - but Ash was bleeding and it wasn’t stopping. Ash’s hand on Michael’s felt weak. Ash was never weak. He was almost as strong as daddy. Michael was scared, really scared. “Please, Ash. Please, let’s go get mommy.”

Ash whispered, “Mommy is three blocks away. The library is around the corner. We’ll go to the library.” He stared straight ahead as he spoke. At one point, he stopped walking and swayed a bit. “Maybe a little help would be good.” He reached into a pocket and pull out his cell phone, but his hand shook and he dropped the phone. The glass screen on the phone cracked and looked like a spider web. Michael picked it up for Ash and tapped the screen, but it stayed black.

Michael felt his lower lip wobble. “Ash... it’s broke.”

For a horribly long time, Ash was very quiet. Then he put the phone back in his pocket. “Well... I guess we won’t be calling 9-1-1, then. Right.” They started walking, again. The library came into sight, a huge stone building with statues of lions at the front steps, and Ash said, “Look, when we get in, you stay with me, ‘kay? Wanna keep you safe.”

They got to the library’s stone steps and Ash started to move slower. He had to stop for a moment and breathed very hard.

Michael’s eyes started to water. “Ash? I’m scared.”

With a smile that seemed sad, Ash started walking, again. “What for? Everything’s fine. Everything’s just fine. Gonna call for help in the library.” 

Michael wasn’t reassured when Ash’s words began to slur or when he staggered. Somehow, they made it into the library. There was no librarian at the front desk. Michael looked for a telephone at the librarian’s desk when Ash told him to, but there wasn’t one. So they went and sat at one of the long, empty tables. “This is my seat,” Ash said. He leaned back in the chair and smiled at the ceiling. “I brought my Eiji here, ya know? I sat here with Eiji. I always sit in this chair. It’s my favorite.” Then he leaned forward and rested his head on his arms. “I’m sorry, kid. Never wanted you getting in...involved.” Ash closed his eyes, then slowly reopened them. “Kay, right. Gotta get up.” He made as if to stand, but he couldn’t quite manage it and slumped back down in his seat. “Damn it.”

Michael was going to help. He had to. Ash wouldn’t be afraid! Daddy and mommy wouldn’t be afraid! So Michael wouldn’t be either and he would save Ash! Ash’s eyes were closed, like he was sleeping. Michael patted Ash on the head and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll get help!” Michael flapped his hands in his agitation, then took a deep breath and looked around. The library looked empty until he noticed, in a lonely corner at the far end of the great room filled with tables and chairs, a man sitting in a big, comfy chair. The man had yellow hair, like Ash, and was holding a magazine with a picture of Kermit the Frog on the front cover. Anyone who liked Kermit the Frog had to be nice. The thought of talking to a stranger was horrible and Ash had told Michael to stay with him, but Ash needed help! Michael told himself to be brave and he ran.

“Help! Help!” Michael managed to yell and the man he was running towards looked up. “Please, help, please!” Michael came to a stop in front of the man and grabbed his arm. “Please! Please, help! My brother’s hurt!” Michael pointed to where Ash was, his head still resting on the table.

The man looked at Ash. His eyes went wide. He hollered, “Bruce!” Then he stood up and ran to Ash. 

Michael followed and hesitated only a moment when, from out between some of the tall book shelves, came a small man with brown hair. He wore a gray sweater and glasses. “What’s going on?”

The man Michael had got to help was touching Ash’s wrist and Michael wanted to yell at him because he knew Ash didn’t like people touching him. “This kid’s bleeding real bad! He’s still got a pulse!”

Michael didn’t know what a pulse was, but he did know that ‘bleeding real bad’ wasn’t good so he could be forgiven for bursting into tears.

“Hey, now.” Michael opened his eyes and sniffled and found the man he’d run to for help kneeling in front of him. “My friend’s a doctor. He’s doing everything he can to help your brother. Can you tell me what happened?”

“I dun know!” Michael wailed. “I think the other man hit him.”

“Okay, that’s a good job remembering. Can you tell me where you live so I can take you home? Or maybe tell me your mom or dad’s phone number so I can call them to come get you?”

Michael rubbed his eyes with his fist. “Not supposed to talk to strangers.”

“That is a really smart rule. So, let’s not be strangers. We’ll be friends. My name’s Steve Rogers. What’s yours?”

“Michael.”

The other man, Bruce, said, “Steve, call 9-1-1! We need an ambulance!”

“Right.” As he pulled out a cell phone, Mister Rogers patted Michael on the shoulder. “Try not to worry. You’re going to be just fine.” He made his phone call and Michael heard him talk about ‘teenage boy’ and ‘stab wound to the lower abdomen’ and other stuff Michael didn’t understand. Meanwhile, Mister Bruce had a hand pressed very firmly to the bloody spot on Ash’s tummy. He kept looking at Ash’s eyes and talking to him with, ‘Can you hear me?’ and ‘It’s going to be alright. Stay with us.’ Until more people wearing blue uniforms arrived. There was a lot of confusion and Mister Bruce said a lot of things to the uniformed people that Michael didn’t understand.

“The paramedics will take care of your brother and get him to a hospital.” Mister Roger’s squatted next to Michael. “Are you hurt?”

“No.” Michael’s eyes flew wide when the paramedics brought out a funny looking bed on wheels and started to put Ash on it. “I wanna go with Ash!”

“Ash, huh? Can you tell me his whole name?”

“Ash Lynx. I wanna go with him. I’m supposed to stay with him; he told me to!”

“Alright. You can come along with me in the ambulance,” Mister Bruce said when he joined them. “Let’s go. Maybe we can get your parents to meet us at the hospital.” And they hurried out of the library after Ash and the paramedics.

Bruce -

Bruce and Michael stayed still and silent in the ambulance to let the paramedic take care of Ash and stayed with Ash as he was brought into the emergency room at the hospital. There, they kept to the back of the room while the doctors and nurses worked. Ash’s shirt was cut off to allow better access, but just as someone was about to cut off his pants, Ash woke up with a vengeance. He blinked and looked around. The moment he appeared to realize where he was, it was like a volcano erupted. “Get off me!” He swung a fist at a doctor and connected with enough force to knock the man off his feet. Everything went into chaos after that. Someone shouted for security and Michael looked near tears, again. Ash struggled and fought, despite his failing strength. The blood soaking his shirt was damp and the stain grew. “You’re not touching me!” He shouted at the nurse who held his hands up in front of him in a placating manner.

Bruce, stunned at how violent everything had gotten so quickly, almost ran out of the room. He didn’t like such stress. He could feel, deep inside him, Hulk stirring, roused from his sleep by shouting and Bruce’s own emotions. Bruce tried, very hard, to sooth Hulk. While they couldn’t exactly ‘talk’ Bruce tried to calm himself and pushed thoughts of peace at Hulk, attempting to communicate that all was well, there was no need for either of them to get upset. When Hulk had settled, but not gone entirely back to sleep, Bruce held up a hand and said, “Let’s have some calm!” To be safe, he put Michael behind him a little, but said to everyone in the room. “All this shouting is getting nowhere. I’m sure we don’t need security. Let’s take a moment to breathe.” He really wished Phil or Clint were there - they really knew how to calm down bad situations. “Everyone just back up a little.” He waited until the doctors and the nurses did what they were told then looked at Ash. “No one’s going to hurt you. You’re safe. You’re in a hospital and everyone’s trying to help you. Your little brother asked us to help you in the library. Do you remember?”

Drawing Ash’s attention to him was, apparently, a mistake. Ash looked at Bruce and then at Michael and, in a split second, he had leapt forward and aimed a punch directly at Bruce. The punch didn’t connect, but it was enough of a surprise that Bruce loosened his grip on Michael’s hand just enough that Michael slipped loose. He went straight to Ash and threw his arms around him. Ash, just as Bruce had done, put Michael behind him and backed into a corner of the room to shield Michael from everyone. Ash’s wild, panicked eyes flitting from person to person. He’d grown frighteningly pale during the confrontation. Without his shirt, it was easy to see that the wound on his abdomen wasn’t his only injury. He had another wound near the main one and another stab wound on his shoulder, but those had been stitched up some days ago. Security guards appeared at the door and Ash seemed ready to keep the battle up until he passed out.

“Please,” Bruce kept his hands at his sides and didn’t move to get closer to Ash even as he feared little Michael might be accidentally hurt. Again, he felt Hulk trying to move closer to the surface of their mind, obviously getting agitated by Bruce’s agitation. So Bruce had to pause to let Hulk know there was no danger. The last thing anyone needed was for Hulk to come bursting out in the middle of a hospital because of a confused kid. “This is all getting a bit busy in here.” He looked at the doctors and the nurses and the security guards. “Please step out in the hall. It’s alright. We’ll be fine.” It took a moment to persuade everyone to leave, but soon it was only Bruce, Ash, and Michael in the room and Bruce tried to relax his posture. “You might not remember, but in the library your little brother asked for help when you were hurt. My name is...”

“Doctor Bruce Banner,” Ash answered. “You’re also The Hulk and one of The Avengers.” He was breathing hard, but he kept himself between Bruce and Michael. “I’ve heard of you.”

“Yes. And if that scares you, I can have someone else come in to help, but you do need help. In a few minutes, you’re going to pass out and then you won’t have a choice in the matter.”

Ash hesitated.

“Goodness,” a new voice said. “What a lot of noise.” Bruce turned to see another man in the doorway. He was not just big, he was immense. The man stood close to seven feet tall and was so broad that he nearly filled the doorway. He had long black hair tied at the back of his neck and looked around the room and seemed amused. He smiled at them all. “Maybe I can help.”

Bruce was on the verge of shooing the man out of the room, but he noticed that Ash had relaxed entirely. He swayed a little where he stood. “Blanca? What are you doing here?”

Blanca answered, “Working. You’re gaining a lot of attention with this attitude.”

“Do I want to know what you were working on in a hospital?”

“Probably not. Now,” Blanca kept smiling. “Stop being a brat and let’s see what you’ve done to yourself.” He went to Ash without fear and took note of the wound. “You need surgery. It’s time for you to quiet down and behave.”

Bruce was certain, absolutely certain that Ash would argue and fight, but he nodded and stepped a little to one side so Blanca could see Michael. “Michael, this is Blanca. He’s a good guy. Blanca, look after the kid until his parents get here, yeah? I said I’d take care of him.”

“Of course.” Blanca took Michael’s hand and smiled so kindly that even Hulk seemed to be calmed. “Now, let’s get you back up on the table.”

Ash tried to do it himself, but couldn’t quite manage. Blanca took hold of Ash under each arm and lifted him like he was no bigger than Michael and put him on the table. Ash smacked Blanca on the arm. “Stop that!”

“Hush. Lay down.” Blanca looked at Bruce. “Perhaps you would ask his doctor to step back in? Ash will behave, now.”

And Ash was prepared for surgery and taken into the operating room while Bruce, Blanca, and Michael were led to a small waiting room. Less than five minutes later, as the three of them sat around a small television in the waiting room, Phil came in. He looked the same as always, completely in control and at ease, but Bruce could see the tightness around the mouth and eyes that showed the stress Phil was feeling. “What’s going on?” Bruce asked.

“Steve called me to tell me what happened. He said the boy’s name is Ash? Ash Lynx?”

“Yes.”

The tension around Phil’s eyes deepened. “Thin boy, bright blonde hair? Green eyes?”

“Yes. Do you know him?”

“He’s the witness.”

It took Bruce a moment to digest that. “You mean... the Club Cod witness? But he’s just...” It was like a final puzzle piece slid into place as Bruce came to a realization. “He wasn’t an employee or a customer. He was a...” A victim. He was too young to be anything but one of Club Cod’s victims. In Bruce’s long trek around the world he had seen many bad things and he met kids stuck in circumstances similar to Ash’s. For a kid who’d suffered through that sort of thing to be willing to stand in the spotlight and tell the whole world what had been done to him was amazingly courageous. Bruce cast a discrete look at little Michael sitting next to Blanca and motioned for Phil to follow him into the hall. Once Bruce was sure Michael wouldn’t overhear, he said, “Steve explained everything to you, didn’t he? Well, the little boy said his name’s Michael but he doesn’t want to say anything else because he’s not supposed to talk to strangers. We need to find out who his parents are so they can fetch him.”

“I already did that. They’ll be here any minute. Who was that man?”

“Ash called him ‘Blanca’ and seems to trust him. He calmed Ash down so the surgery could start.”

Phil pressed his lips together, a sure sign of his unhappiness. “Clint was meant to start guarding Ash in just an hour. Just one hour and this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Don’t blame yourself. Please. Ash was very combative in there. I think he was trying to fight his way out of the hospital, but I’m not sure how far he thought he’d get in that condition.” Bruce tucked his hands in his pockets and looked down at his feet. His next news would make Phil even more unhappy and he didn’t like making people unhappy. He was only comforted by the fact that Phil never yelled. “He’s got other wounds. They’re only a few days old and I think they were pretty bad when they happened. The one he’s getting fixed now... it’s worse. He’s lost a lot of blood. I’m not sure where he got the energy to start fighting in there, but it didn’t last long.” Bruce scuffed the toe of his shoe on the floor. “He might not make it.”

“It’s that bad?”

“Yes. If that little boy hadn’t asked Steve for help... I think your witness would be dead now. Surgery is always dangerous and he’s in critical condition. I didn’t want Michael to hear, but you need to be prepared for Ash to die. It’s a very real possibility.”

Phil’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t know how I’m going to tell Max.”

“So, he’s the witness?”

“He’s the witness. Ash Lynx.”

“I suppose,” Bruce, now that he’d delivered the bad news and had gotten no bad reactions from Phil, began to relax. “That whoever did this is one of the people connected with Club Cod.”

“I suppose it must be. I’ve already sent some agents over to the library to investigate and Steve said he was going to look around, too. If Ash wakes up, he can tell us exactly where he was attacked and maybe we can learn something, then. This wouldn’t have happened if he’d been with us.”

There was nothing else to do but wait. Phil joined them in the waiting room. The television was set to a local news station, but Bruce ignored it. He had seen many injuries during his life and he knew that Ash’s injury was bad, very bad. He hadn’t been exaggerating when he said Ash might still die. To think one injury might not only end a boy’s life, but prevent so many criminals from getting the justice they deserved. Two more people joined them and Phil, after shaking their hands, introduced Bruce to Max Glenreed and his wife, Jessica. The two of them hugged their son and told him Ash would be just fine, he was young and strong so he would make it through. While all that was going on Phil stepped up next to Bruce and quietly asked, “Where did Blanca go?”

Bruce looked around the small room. He hadn’t even realized Blanca had left. How? The man was bigger than Steve, so how had he just slipped out of the room without any of them noticing?

To be continued...


	5. Acceptance

Chapter 5: Acceptance

Phil-

Phil walked away from the Chang Dai Restaurant and his mind was racing with new information and reworking his plans. He felt entirely out of place in his suit, but kept walking and ignored the people who stared at him. That neighborhood didn’t appear to be one in which many suits were seen. He remembered the way back to Avenger’s Tower, of course, though Ash hadn’t made any effort to keep the route simple. He had just gone out of sight of the restaurant when he realized Natasha was walking at his side. With her brilliant red hair, she stood out in the Chinatown crowd, but otherwise, she fit in far better than Phil. Her clothes were very casual, blue jeans and a sweatshirt, nothing fancy, nothing to get any attention.

“That was... unexpected.”

Phil nodded. “I need to think about this. This changes everything.”

Clint stepped up on Phil’s other side. He, too, was dressed as nondescript as he possibly could in blue jeans and a black t-shirt. “Tony’s gonna have a fit. A kid? I’ll bet he doesn’t even shave, yet!” Clint rubbed the bridge of his nose. “And Steve... we’re gonna need new punching bags when he hears about your witness.”

“And that’s why I’m going to have to rely on you two for a little while.” Phil spoke as he walked and made a conscious effort not to look as stressed as he felt. No reason to get Clint or Natasha more worked up than they already were. “That boy’s safety is still our prime concern. If he will not come willingly into protective custody, then I’ll assign you two to guard him discretely. I’m sorry to throw the two of you in this, but of all the team you’re are the best to carry out this sort of mission.”

“Agreed. Steve is too noticeable and Tony makes himself too noticeable. And Bruce... Bruce could do this,” Natasha gave him a warning look. “But do not assign him to an observation mission alone until he has had proper training. I will oversee it myself.” She narrowed her eyes and raised her chin.

“We’ll have to see if Bruce wants to do it.”

“... Yes. A choice would be good.” She dropped it at that.

Clint slipped around to Natasha and caught her by the arm to stop her walking. He held out a fist in front of her. 

Phil, curious, stopped to watch. He knew Clint and Natasha shared a very close relationship, filled with secrets they only shared with each other. They had a deep understanding of one another and he knew very well that no other person on the planet could ever understand those two as well as each other did. He had, more than once, witnessed them giving each other little secret nods or gestures - the quirk of an eyebrow, the subtle nod or shake of the head - no words were apparently needed in their private conversations, so he was curious about this mysterious signal and watched closely to see if he might be able to divine what it meant between them.

Her face set in a grim mask, Natasha also held out her fist to Clint. Their eyes locked. All was still, as if the gods themselves waited with baited breath to see what would happen. In unison, with solemn voices, they chanted,

“Rock, paper, scissors!”

Natasha threw scissors and Clint threw paper.

Clint laughed. “I lose. I’ll take first shift babysitting.”

“And I will relieve you in ten hours.” They nodded to each other and Clint started to leave when Phil’s phone rang. A glance at the screen told him that it was Nick Fury. “Hello, Nick. I was going to call you. There has been a development in the Club Cod matter.”

“You can tell me when you get to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.”

“Of course. I just need to brief the team about the new development with the witness and set up a guard rotation and...”

“No.”

“What?”

“No. Don’t do anything regarding the Club Cod witness. You are to immediately cease all activities in regards to that matter.”

Phil paused and thought. Fury sound angry. He was fairly certain he heard the sound of grinding teeth. “What’s going on, Nick?” As he spoke, he made a certain hand gesture to Clint and Natasha that was basically an old signal they had that meant ‘wait’ and they both went to stand in front of him, patiently waiting for him to speak to them. “We both know how important this matter is. To drop it when I just found...”

“I have been informed,” Fury growled out the words. “That the Club Cod matter is not the business of S.H.I.E.L.D. as it is a civilian affair. We have been told not to waste resources on it.”

Resources? Waste resources? Phil had it all planned out and there wouldn’t be anything needed in the way of room and board for the witness as Tony had already offered it all free of charge. When Tony found out the witness was a victim, he was even less likely to ask payment. “Waste... what? Nick, we have - ” Phil broke off. He was in the middle of Chinatown and there were people everywhere. He took a breath to keep calm. “I’m in public and can’t talk. I’ll meet you at headquarters as soon as I can and we’ll talk there.”

“Make it quick. And if you have anyone on your team who can keep a cool head in this hot situation, bring them.” Fury hung up and Phil closed his eyes.

Clint and Natasha were likely the only two who could be relied on not to blow a gasket if they were ordered away from the Club Cod matter. The rest of the team were all too likely to get emotional and it sounded as if Fury needed calm and logic at that moment. But, to leave Ash alone...

“We’re going to headquarters.”

Clint and Natasha exchanged a puzzled look. “What about the kid?” Clint asked. “You still want me to keep an eye on him or maybe call someone else to babysit?”

Yes, Phil wanted to say. Of course one of them should keep watching Ash, but... “We’ve been ordered down. We are to have nothing to do with the witness or the case.” He hated the order, but Phil knew how important it was that they follow the rules that had been set for them. If they started to disregard orders, then it was likely that The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. would be branded as vigilantes. They needed to have the trust of the people they protected and that meant they couldn’t just ignore orders. The rules also kept them from falling into temptation. If they ignored one rule, then where would it stop? He didn’t want his people to end up ignoring laws because they thought they knew better. So, everything had to be done right. 

‘Ash has survived his whole life without The Avengers watching his back,’ Phil told himself. ‘He’ll be fine for a few hours. He’s got Max to look out for him and I know Max is strong and smart. There will be no problems. He’ll be fine.’

Again, another silent look exchanged between Clint and Natasha. “That’s not good,” Clint said. “What’s Fury thinking?”

“It’s not his idea.” Phil dialed on his phone and almost immediately got in contact with Tony. “Tony, can you do me a favor?”

“Sure thing. What do you need?”

Tony was one of the few people in the world who could literally follow up with the promise to do anything Phil needed. If Phil asked for a space shuttle, Tony could deliver and have it gift wrapped. “It shouldn’t be any trouble for you and J.A.R.V.I.S. so I hoped you could get me some information about someone named Aslan Callenreese.”

“Sure. I’ll have it when you get back. Who is he?”

“Don’t worry about it.” If he told Tony everything, there was no chance at all of leaving Ash alone until Phil had spoken to Fury about what was going on. “Clint, Nat, and I have to go take care of some business with Fury, so we won’t be home straight away. Tell Bruce and Steve not to worry, please.”

“Sure. Look, is Fury giving you trouble? I’ll come over and...”

“No. No. It’s really nothing to worry about.” It wasn’t a lie. It was nothing for Tony to worry about because Phil would deal with the problem. He was their handler - dealing with problems was his job. He said good-bye to Tony, then put his phone in his pocket and looked at his two assets. “Let’s go.”

They arrived in good time and the whole organization was humming along like a busy beehive. With Phil in the lead and Clint and Natasha walking side-be-side just a step or two behind him, they made their way quickly to Fury’s office. “Right,” Phil said to Fury the moment they walked in. “What’s the situation?”

“The higher-ups on the World Security Council have informed me that taking on the Club Cod matter is not our jurisdiction. It’s a matter for the local law enforcement. We are to conserve our resources for matters that are more pressing.” In his hand, Fury held a stress ball made of hard rubber and squeezed it rhythmically. “Tell me what you’ve learned about the witness.”

“New information. I met with Max Lobo, whose real name is Maxwell Glenreed, and he convinced his witness to meet with me. Unfortunately, the witness refused protection.”

Fury frowned and sat back a little. “That’s surprising.”

“True. However, regardless of the wisdom of his decision, it is his to make. We can’t completely disregard his rights and forcing him into protective custody would surely fall under ‘kidnapping’. We must persuade him to see the sense in it and, barring that, we’ll go with a plan of observation and protection. It isn’t ideal, but we can make it work. Also, the witness is a teenager.”

Fury blinked, let out a long sigh, then closed his eyes and swiveled his chair around so, for a moment, Phil couldn’t see him. He did see Fury’s hand squeeze the rubber ball extra hard. Slowly, Fury turned his chair back around to face them “A teenager?”

“Yes. I haven’t asked his exact age, yet, but I would guess he’s seventeen or eighteen-years-old.”

“If he’s a minor, that might work to our advantage. He’ll need a legal guardian and we can persuade that guardian to let us protect him.”

“He could be an adult. It’s hard to tell just by looking.”

“Then find out the victim’s age.”

Phil almost laughed. “If I call him that a second time, I’m sure he’ll take a swing at me. He did not like being called a victim. He goes by the name ‘Ash Lynx’ but his real name is Aslan Callenreese. I’m going to do a little research about him after I give you everything I have, so I’ll have to get back to you with further developments. I can tell you that Max Lobo and I served together in Iraq with Ash’s older brother.”

“It’s a small world.” Fury tapped his index finger on the desk three times. “Your information changes nothing. The witness needs to be kept alive by any means. He must make it to the trial and, if possible, have him give us his list of names before the trial so I can get some damage control set up.”

“I have three names.” Phil named off the people Ash had mentioned.

Fury rubbed his forehead and pulled a bottle of pain killers from out of his desk drawer. “Those are some names.”

“I never would have suspected, but he even offered intimate information to prove his accusations. Said he could tell me which one had a mole on his backside, if I wanted to know.” Phil shuddered. “I honestly don’t want to know. So, what do we do about the Club Cod matter? You and I both know this is our jurisdiction and we both know how important this is.”

“Oh, we’re going to work on it, we just need to do a little sweet talking.” He stood up and put down his rubber ball before he pulled on his jacket. “I hate this part of the job... damned politics!”

“A little more detailed information might be helpful if we’re going to face the World Security Council.”

“Councilwoman Thema Shehata has been making noise that this matter is not for us to worry about. She’s made enough noise for the council to order us to back off. I told them I’d speak with them about it and I wanted you here, because you’re good at arguing, Phil. And you two,” he looked at Clint and Natasha. “If you can think of anything that will help our case...”

“I can tell you that Tony’s paying for everything,” Clint said, at once. “He said he’ll let the kid stay in the tower, so that doesn’t have to come out of your budget. That’s gotta help.”

Natasha opened her mouth, but then closed it. She opened it, again, hesitated, then said, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to say. I don’t think guarding one boy will be any trouble. If another mission comes along, Tony has enough security on the tower that no one will be able to get in even if we are away.”

“That’s good,” Phil praised. “They may not even ask your opinion, but keep all that in mind.”

One of the large monitors in Fury’s office was turned on and, within five minutes, they stood facing the members of the World Security Council from where they sat in their various offices. Fury argued the necessity of guarding the Club Cod witness and when his voice began to give, Phil stepped in. Phil didn’t argue. He persuaded. So for hours, he stood in front of that monitor and persuaded, laying out every logical and moral justification for protecting the witness. He was honestly surprised by how strongly several of the council people, most especially Councilwoman Shehata, argued against it. Phil was nothing if not persistent. He went on and on, repeating himself frequently and asking for Clint and Natasha’s input at certain points. Eventually, well after midnight, a vote was taken amongst the council people and they finally agreed to allow Fury, and therefore Phil and his Avenger’s, to provide protection for the witness. Phil had not convinced Councilwoman Shehata and Phil couldn’t think of any reason why she should be so against it. It was good that Phil got his way because once the rest of The Avenger’s found out the witness was just a boy, it was incredibly unlikely that they would have ignored the Club Cod matter, no matter what the World Security Council dictated. Tony, especially, would take any such order as a challenge and Steve would likely be right beside him. And the notion that Bruce, of all people, would abandon someone who’d gone through severe child abuse was unthinkable.

After that was done and ice water was brought for Phil’s poor throat, they all sat down at Fury’s desk to sort out the hard part - paperwork.

It was well after dawn when Phil, Clint, and Natasha finally left S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and headed home. They hadn’t gone more than ten steps away from the front door of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters when Phil’s phone rang. It was Steve.

“Good morning, Steve. Sorry we didn’t come home last night. I hope you weren’t too worried...”

“Phil,” Steve’s voice sounded strong and serious, his ‘work’ voice. Phil stopped walking and listened. “We have a problem.”

“What sort of problem?” He wasn’t at all surprised when Clint and Natasha were suddenly tensed and facing him, waiting for orders.

“None of the team is hurt and we haven’t been attacked.”

Phil felt his heart start to beat easier at the reassurance. “Alright, but what happened?”

“Bruce and I had gone out to the library since we didn’t get a chance the other day. Everything was quiet. We’d gone so early that it was almost deserted, so Bruce was having a good time. We’d been there about a half-an-hour, when this little boy came running over to me and told me his brother was hurt. The kid’s brother was sitting at one of the library tables with his head resting on his arms. When I got over there, I found he’d been stabbed in the gut. The boy looked like he was maybe seventeen or eighteen-years-old and he was unconscious. I suppose from blood loss. Bruce took a look at him and we called for an ambulance. Bruce just left with the ambulance and the two boys. I thought you’d want to know.”

A little instinct was yelling at the back of Phil’s mind. “Thank you for telling me. Did you talk to the police?”

“Not yet. The ambulance just left. The little boy was just a tiny kid - couldn’t have been more than five or six-years-old and he didn’t want to tell me much because he’s not supposed to talk to strangers. He did tell me his name is Michael, though. I just wanted to let you know what’s going on. Bruce is going to stay with the kids until their parents can be located and I’m going to join him there as soon as I take a quick look around to see if I can find the weapon.” Steve told Phil what hospital Bruce and the boys had been taken to. “I think you should know, the teenager had a gun. He was leaning forward on the library table when I went to him and I could see it hidden under his shirt tucked into the waistband of his jeans. I took it. Didn’t want anyone to get accidentally hurt.”

“Good call. If you need me to handle any paperwork from the police, let me know. I’ll check in on Bruce as soon as I can, so I’ll probably see you there. Did you get any other information from the boy that might help the police locate their parents?”

“He told me his brother’s name - Ash Lynx. That should help, right?”

Phil stopped walking. “Ash Lynx?”

“Yeah. I suppose J.A.R.V.I.S. might be able to find something.”

“Steve, I’m heading to the hospital now. Get there as soon as you can. The victim is our witness and it sounds like someone tried to assassinate him already.” 

***

Once they’d arrived at the hospital, Phil stopped at the front desk and asked where he could find the patient and, when told the patient was currently in surgery, he gestured sharply to Clint and Natasha. They nodded to him, then walked off. They would have little problem locating the correct operating room and, once they found it, they would station themselves nearby on guard duty. Phil, with more help from the nurse at the front desk, managed to find Bruce in one of the waiting rooms. The large man Bruce had called ‘Blanca’ had slipped away the moment Max and his wife arrived. It was the first time Phil had met Jessica. He had to admit that Max was a lucky man - Jessica was stunningly beautiful and, considering how she’s rushed to her son and peppered his face with relieved kisses, she adored their son. As soon as she’d reassured herself that her child was safe and stood up with her son on her hip, she turned to Phil and he saw fire in her eyes.

“What’s going on? I want the full story and I want it now!”

Before Phil could say anything, Michael said, “The other man hurt Ash and there was blood everywhere and I talked to strangers!” He pointed at Bruce. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, but Ash kept bleeding and then he put his head down on the table and he fell asleep and I was really scared and there wasn’t a librarian so I found a man and he called that man,” again, he pointed at Bruce. “And we brought him here and Ash was really angry when he woke up. Is he mad at me? I’m sorry. I was scared. I was really scared.” He said it all very quickly, his words muddling together, until he finished with his little fingers clenching and unclenching on his mother’s shirt. “Didn’t want to talk to strangers, but I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know. I didn’t.” He was nearly in tears by the end and a softness flooded Jessica’s face. She hugged Michael tightly and turned her back on everyone else to go to a chair in the corner of the room where she sat down and held Michael on her lap.

“It’s okay, Michael. You did really well helping Ash. I know it was scary and I’m happy you remembered the rule about not talking to strangers, but this was an emergency. I’m proud of you. I’m so proud.” She kissed the top of his head and cuddled him. “However, we’re going to have another talk about leaving the apartment alone.”

“I wasn’t alone. I was with Ash.”

“Did Ash know you were with him?”

Michael looked away. “I was gonna tell him.”

“Right. We’ll save that talk for when Ash is feeling better.”

Phil turned his attention to Max and his face was like a thundercloud. “Do you know what happened? Anymore than what you told us on the phone?”

Phil shook his head, regretfully. He had, naturally, called Max and Jessica the moment he’d gotten off the phone with Steve and told them that Ash had been hurt and he and Michael were at the hospital with someone Phil trusted. There wasn’t anything else to tell and he felt badly about that. He liked having all the answers when people were depending on him. “I have people in the hospital now, near the room where he’s being operated on. They’ll wait until he’s brought out of surgery and stay close. These people are excellently skilled and very professional.”

Max rubbed the back of his neck, then rolled his shoulders. “Good. That’s good. That kid spends too much time in hospitals.” He went to his family and kissed Michael’s cheek. “Thanks for looking out for Ash, son. Your mom’s right, though. You shouldn’t have left the apartment alone.”

Michael leaned his head on his mother’s shoulder. “I didn’t know what to do. Just like last time. When mommy got hurt, I didn’t know what to do.”

After sharing a concerned look between them, Jessica and Max looked back at Michael. Jessica said, “We’ll think of something to fix that, honey.”

Two hours passed.

Bruce stayed silent and still in a corner of the waiting room, as if he were afraid to break the tense atmosphere. Max and Jessica stayed side-by-side unless Max took a few minutes to pace the room. Michael fell asleep in his mother’s arms and it was no wonder as he’d had a very busy morning. Steve showed up after a time and introduced himself politely. Before he went to sit with Bruce on the sofa, he took a piece of paper out of his pants pocket and held it out to Max.

“I found this after the paramedics took the boy away. I thought you might want to hold it for him.”

Max looked at the paper, then laughed. “That silly kid!” He put the paper in his pocket and didn’t say anymore about it. 

Steve told Phil that he hadn’t found any weapons in the library and they would have to hope for more information when Ash woke up. Shortly after Steve had arrived, another man turned up. This man was tall and lanky with a head of orange curls. Max shook his hand and said to Phil,

“This is Charlie Dickinson. He’s a detective with the NYPD. Charlie, this is Phil Coulson with S.H.I.E.L.D. and his people.” He gestured towards Bruce and Steve without making a big scene about who they were and Phil was grateful. That wasn’t the time for such things. “Charlie, you heard about Ash?”

“Yeah. Captain Jenkins heard, too. The hospital reported the attack and described the victim. I hurried over here just in case it was Ash. As soon as I saw you, I knew it had to be him. How is he?”

“We don’t know.”

“Do you need some cops here to look after him or,” Charlie glanced at Phil. “You have things taken care of?”

“S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Avenger’s are happy to keep the boy safe. We’ll certainly call if we need more help, though.” It wouldn’t happen, Phil knew even as he said it. The less people involved with Ash before the trial, the safer he’d be. “I presume you know Ash, from the way you’re talking about him?”

“I’ve known Ash a couple of years, now.” Charlie smiled, fondly. “I was a beat cop when he appeared on the scene and my beat was in his territory.”

“Territory?”

“His gang’s territory. Did you know he’s a gang leader?”

Phil shook his head. He hadn’t known that. 

“Well, he is. He’s pretty good at it, too. He controls his territory and the gangs under his leadership like a cross between a businessman and a warlord.”

“Gangs? More than one?”

Charlie looked like he could almost laugh. “He united several gangs and, within a month of him taking control of them, street violence dropped in his territory by fifty-three percent. I don’t know how he did it, but he’s a remarkable kid, I’ll tell you that.” He pulled a business card from a pocket and handed it to Phil. “Max knows how to contact me, but if you need anything, just give a call. It’s hard not to worry when you know him.” He made to leave, but Max stopped him.

“What about the charges against him? He skipped bail when he got arrested for Marvin Crosby’s murder and then he was arrested with that whole deal about Arthur. Am I going to need to get him a lawyer? I’ve got George on speed dial.”

Charlie looked uncomfortable. “Ah... about that. We should talk soon. Not here. For now, don’t worry about all that. Call me when Ash is feeling better, but don’t worry.” Charlie left after handshakes all around.

Five minutes later a doctor stepped into the room and told them that Ash was out of surgery and doing extremely well. The whole room seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief. They were told they could go in for a visit if they could all stay quiet. “He’ll wake up soon,” the doctor told them. “But he’ll likely be groggy for a while.”

They found Clint and Natasha waiting outside Ash’s room. Phil had to do introductions when Max and Jessica demanded to know why two strangers were lurking around. Carefully, everyone went in. It was a tight squeeze, but they all made it in. The hospital room was quiet but for the customary ‘beep, beep’ of monitors attached to Ash. Phil stepped back to allow Max and Jessica to get closer to the bed, as seemed appropriate. Michael stayed asleep and in his mother’s arms while Max and Jessica fussed about Ash. When they were satisfied that he was alive, Jessica took a seat by the window to let Michael keep sleeping and Max leaned on the wall next to the door.

With his skin frighteningly pale and dark circles around his eyes, Ash looked dreadful. He was attached to wires and tubes. Phil had thought Ash was thin when they’d met before, but, laying in the bed with his fair hair pushed away from his brow, Ash looked downright frail. ‘He’s too thin,’ Phil thought. 

“He’s going to be fine,” Max said after a little while. “I know he doesn’t look good, Phil, but he’s a lot stronger than you think. He will pull through.” It was said with absolute certainty. There wasn’t an ounce of doubt in Max’s voice. “He won’t stay here, though.”

Phil took a look at Ash’s chart. “He’s lost a lot of blood and the knife only barely missed some very important parts. He needs to stay in the hospital and he’ll need to stay here for some time.”

“But he won’t. I know him and he won’t stay here. As soon as he can get his feet under him, he’ll slip away.”

“Damn straight I will. Where’s my gun?”

Everyone turned to look at Ash. His eyes were open and clear and he had propped himself up on one elbow. There was almost no grogginess the doctor had mentioned. He looked slowly around the room until his eyes fell on Michael and he seemed to relax, letting himself lay back down. He looked around at the new faces until he looked at Bruce. “Hey.”

“Hello,” Bruce said. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I just got knifed in the gut.”

A horrified little choking noise made everyone turn their attention to Michael who had woken up and stared at Ash.

Ash winced. “Sorry, kid. I shouldn’t have said that. Are you alright? You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

Michael wiggled until his mother put him down and he walked slowly to Ash’s bedside. He reached up and gingerly put his hand on Ash’s. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m alright.”

Michael started to climb up on Ash’s bed and said, “It was really awful. You bleeded everywhere and I had to talk to strangers and ride in the ambulance and they cut all your clothes! Don’t do that again!” By then, Michael was sitting next to Ash on the bed. “I had to talk to them,” he pointed at Bruce and Steve. “And they helped and called the ambulance and... and... I didn’t know if you were going to get better.” Michael’s eyes were watery and he sniffled, clearly trying to keep the tears at bay.

“Don’t you worry about me,” Ash smiled. “This,” he gestured at where the wound was under the blanket. “This is nothing. I’ve had worse than this lots of times.”

That, apparently, was the wrong thing to say. Michael started crying in earnest, then. He carefully leaned forward until he was pressed against Ash and gave him a hug. Bewildered, Ash looked over Michael’s head at Max. “What’d I say?”

Max easily picked Michael up and sat in the chair next to Ash’s bed. He held Michael and patted his back until Michael calmed. “We have to be gentle with Ash,” he told Michael. “He’s hurt real bad, so you can’t go climbing on him for a while.” Then, he told Ash, “He’s upset because you’re hurt. Telling him that you get hurt a lot and worse than this makes him sad.”

It was such an odd expression that flashed across Ash’s face. Phil realized that Ash really hadn’t considered that Michael might be upset for him. Such a sad thought. “Oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare him. I didn’t know he’d followed me out of the apartment, Max. I had my mind on other things.”

Max grinned. “Yes. I know.”

“What?”

Max pulled out of his pocket the crumpled paper Steve had given him earlier and handed it to Ash. “Looks like you had your mind over in Japan, didn’t you?”

Ash blushed and snatched the letter. “Damned rude reading other people’s mail! Where are my clothes?!”

“All cut up,” Michael rubbed the tears off his face when he said it. “Sorry. I didn’t know how to stop ‘em.” He sniffled. “Ash, I’m sorry I let you get hurt. You mad at me?”

“Mad?” Ash shook his head. “How can I be mad at my hero?”

Michael’s eyes went wide. He leaned a little forward. “Hero?”

“Sure. You saved my life. You’re my super hero.”

There was surely, Phil thought, no cuter sight than Michael basking in such a compliment. He looked as if he might float to the ceiling with happiness. He smiled. “Can I be the Hulk?”

In the corner of the room, where he half hid behind Steve, Bruce started and stared at Michael. “Why would you want to be?” Bruce asked, obviously bewildered.

“He’s green.” Michael patted the green frogs on the pockets of his coat and then wiggled his feet in his green sneakers. “I like green.”

“Tell you what,” Ash sat up a little more. “Soon as I get out of here and have half a minute to breathe, I’ll make you a green super hero cape. How’s that?”

Michael giggled and leaned back against Max.

With that promise made, Ash started to detach himself. He pulled off wires and tubes and when a little alarm sounded, he ignored it. He also ignored everyone’s protests. “Someone get me clothes or I’m walking out of here in this hospital gown.” When a nurse rushed in to find out what the problem was, she urged him to lay back down, but Ash would hear none of it. “I don’t do hospitals. I’m eighteen and I’m discharging myself.”

Bruce stepped forward. “That’s not a good idea. Seriously. Look, you really do need medical care, whether you want it or not. I saw your wound and I’ve looked at your chart. I’m not sure how you’re even this awake right after your surgery, let alone moving around so much. Please, you’re going to hurt yourself. Lay back down and let yourself be taken care of.”

Ash leveled a blank look at Bruce and, disturbingly, Phil was suddenly reminded of Natasha. In fact, at the right angle, Phil could actually see a resemblance. The shape of the nose and the cheekbones... he definitely saw a likeness between Ash and Natasha. Still, that was most like coincidence. Probably. Maybe... Phil would investigate at a later time. Ash told Bruce, “When my big brother was given a bad drug in the war and couldn’t take care of himself anymore, he was put in a vet hospital. The place was dark and dirty and cold and he’d lost a ton of weight and two teeth because the staff there couldn’t be bothered to take care of him. When I was seventeen, I went into a hospital and when I did a dirty cop send me to prison where I got gang-raped. The next time I was in a hospital, an assassin nurse tried to kill me and ended up killing the poor cop who was guarding my door. After that, fake FBI agents kidnapped me and took me to a mental hospital where they were doing illegal human experimentation and I nearly got my brain turned into banana pudding. So, no. I’m not staying in a hospital.” He sat on the edge of the bed and glared at Bruce, as if daring him to argue.

“I’m sorry about all that, but it doesn’t change the fact that you have a very serious injury. You shouldn’t even be sitting up, if you open that wound...”

“I’ll live.” Ash sat there, quietly, and then looked down at his lap. He looked over his shoulder at Max and Michael with Jessica standing behind them. Then he looked at Phil and his eyes narrowed. “I accept.”

“What?”

“You offered protection? Said I could stay at the Avenger’s Tower? Well, I accept your offer.”

The fact that Ash didn’t seem at all happy about his decision did little to dampen Phil’s relief. “That’s great news. And even better, you can get your medical attention there and not have to stay in a hospital.” He was sure Bruce wouldn’t mind. Technically, Bruce wasn’t a medical doctor, but he had learned so much over his life that he could at least monitor Ash and get him to medical professionals if things started to go wrong. “We can get you moved in immediately and...”

Ash held up a hand to stop Phil. “Hold up. I’ve got a couple of conditions. First, I come and go as I please. I won’t be a prisoner.”

“Agreed.” It would be easy enough to have someone follow and guard Ash if he left the tower, so that was no trouble at all.

“Secondly, you bring them, too.” Ash pointed over his shoulder at Max and his family.

“Ash,” Max rubbed his forehead, as if he’d heard the argument far too often. “I’m really not a target. I’ve made it publicly known that I have multiple copies of all my information hidden with different people in different locations. Those people all know that if anything happens to me, they’ll deliver the evidence to the court. If I get killed, no one will gain anything. The information is what’s important, not me. The information and you. You are vulnerable. I know you don’t like it, but you are. You are the one who needs to be protected.”

But Ash crossed his arms over his chest, as if he were settling in for a long, drawn-out confrontation. “I will NOT be the reason someone targets them, again! Not a second time! Look at today. I don’t much care what happens to me, but Michael was with me. The low-life that knifed me had nothing to do with all this; that was personal. He aimed at me. But if it was one of Dino’s people or someone else that wants to shut me up, they’d have aimed for Michael. He was in danger because of me.” There was a deep self-loathing in that last sentence, so raw that it was almost painful to listen to. “He might have been killed just because he was with me. If the knife had hit just a little differently, I might have died on the spot and Michael would have been alone on the streets. Either you all take the protection, too, or I vanish.”

Everyone in the room went to full attention. Max glared at Ash. “Don’t you dare!”

“You think I won’t? I can walk out of this building today and you won’t see me until the day of the trial. Give me two minutes and I can disappear in this city. Blanca’s still in town, too. He’ll help me.”

Max went quiet. He looked at Jessica, who nodded, then finally said to Ash, “Alright, then. We’re in this together.”

To be continued...


	6. Discharged

Chapter 6: Discharged

Gregory Dufort-

Ash Lynx and his gang of street thugs had attacked Papa Dino’s car and taken Papa Dino hostage. In the process both Gregory and Angie, Papa Dino’s bodyguards, had both been shot and unable to stop anything. As he teetered on the edge of consciousness, Gregory Dufort had watched from where he lay on the ground while Ash Lynx held Papa Dino at gunpoint and forced him away from the car. Gregory tried to push himself up, but the effort made the world go dark and he blacked out. When he finally woke, there was no sign of Ash or his gang. He took a breath and forced himself to sit up, trying to ignore the pain. A short distance down the road a roaring inferno blazed at the foot of a half-built building. Gregory looked down at Angie, still unconscious, then staggered away from the car. He concealed himself behind the corner of the half-built building just in time to see Ash Lynx walk out of the building. He was wounded and Gregory was pleased. He had never liked Papa Dino’s alley cat.

A group gathered around Ash and Gregory found that he knew most all of them. The journalist, Max Lobo, and his wife, along with one of the gang kids from Chinatown were the first ones to reach Ash. Soon, more little snot-nosed brats joined them, all the ragged little brats who wanted to be gangsters and thought having a gun put them at the top of the food chain. As Papa Dino’s right hand man for the past many years, Gregory had at least seen most of those boys at some time or another. They gathered around Ash like moths to a flame. Then, into that firelight, towering over everyone like an oak tree, stepped Blanca.

Gregory stepped back a pace, hoping that the shadows would conceal him. 

“Well?” Max Lobo asked Ash. “What happened up there?”

“Foxx is dead.” Ash held a hand to his shoulder and swayed on his feet. “Dino killed him. Shot him right in the head. Dino’s dead, too.”

Gregory didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. A blazing fury swamped his mind. Papa was dead. Ash, of all people, wouldn’t joke about that. He watched as the group spoke for a bit longer, then went their separate ways with Ash heading off with Max Lobo and the wife. They were all gone well before any authorities arrived. All of them but Blanca.

As a made man in the Corsican Syndicate and the right hand of Papa Dino, Gregory would never admit to being afraid of anyone, but he would confess to a wise amount of caution where Blanca was concerned. Anyone who was completely comfortable around Blanca either didn’t know his reputation or was an idiot. Blanca stood there in the light of the burning helicopter, with the sounds of police sirens growing closer and closer and didn’t look even the slightest bit worried. He walked very calmly to the wreckage of Papa Dino’s car and looked down at Angie. He looked around the car for a few minutes, then bent over to picked up Angie. He threw Angie over his shoulder as if he were no more trouble than a blanket, and walked off. Seconds later, the area was filled with police cars and fire trucks.

Still, Gregory watched. It was chaos and he knew he couldn’t stay long or he’d be found and it was all too likely that he might be recognized. He made to slip away when he saw, sitting on a table with little things in labeled bags, a metal suitcase. It was badly dented and the some of the metal had been melted from the fire, but it was whole. Gregory remembered that suitcase. He remembered Doctor Manorheim had that case and he remembered what Manorheim kept in that case. He waited. The police set up a perimeter around the helicopter wreck and left people on guard as they scoured the place to find out what had happened. After a short while all the evidence on the table, including the metal suitcase, was put in a car and driven away. Gregory turned and walked away from the crime scene. He went to an all-night pharmacy and bought bandages so he could wrap his wound before he made a phone call.

The phone was answered with a voice made gravely by cigarette smoke, “Detective Evanstine.”

“Hello, Evanstine.”

There was a pause on the other end. “Mister Dufort? What can I do for you? I haven’t heard from Monsieur Golzine for a long while.”

Papa Dino was dead. The thought echoed in Gregory’s mind. “You’re going to do something for me, Evanstine.”

“Of course. I’m always at Monsieur Golzine’s disposal.”

“Yes. You are.” Evanstine had been bought and paid for long ago and did whatever Papa Dino told him to do. He was a stupid man and greedy beyond reason. However, he was useful. “You’re going to go to your evidence locker and steal something for me. Today a piece of evidence was brought in from a helicopter crash. A metal suitcase. You’re going to deliver it to me.”

“Hold on.” Gregory heard the noise of a chair scraping against the floor. “Let me get somewhere quiet.” Somewhere quiet clearly meant somewhere that he wouldn’t be overheard. A moment passed. “Right. You said a suitcase? What’s Monsieur Golzine want a suitcase for? What’s in it?”

“Do you really want to get that involved in Papa Dino’s business?”

“No! No. Of course not. Where do you want it?”

“The usual drop location in Central Park. Have it there in one hour.”

“One hour?! Look, this might take time and that’s only if I can get it without getting caught.”

Gregory closed his eyes and forced down his rising irritation. “Evanstine, do you remember Nicholas Beaumont?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember what happened to him when he accidentally put that scratch on the side of Papa Dino’s favorite Rolls-Royce?”

“Y-yes.”

“Well, if you don’t get that suitcase to the drop location in Central Park in exactly one hour, I’m going to do to you, what Papa Dino did to Nicholas Beaumont, but I’m going to do it with a spoon.”

Another pause. “Right. Yes. One hour. Don’t worry, I’ll be there. It’ll be there. I won’t be there, but the suitcase will be there.”

“That’s a very wise decision. I’ll be waiting.”

One hour later, right on the dot, Gregory watched from concealment while Evanstine, dressed in a cheap overcoat with a cigarette hanging on his lips, nearly ran to the drop location. He carried a large plastic shopping bag, held protectively close to his chest. The moment he reached the duck pond, he set the plastic shopping bag on the ground near an overgrown lilac bush. He had left many things in that spot over the passed few years, mostly bits of evidence from cases that would have inconvenienced Papa Dino. Evanstine looked around, perhaps to see if he’d been spotted or perhaps to see if Gregory were around. He waited only a moment before he turned and walked quickly away.

Gregory waited for ten minutes and when no one came by and he couldn’t hear any sign of people nearby, he left his hiding spot and went to retrieve the package. Inside the plastic shopping bag, there was the metal suitcase. The lock was broken, melted by the heat of the burning helicopter, but it seemed otherwise intact. He put it back in the shopping bag and walked away. He found a bench to sit on and, with the shopping bag on his lap and his hand in his coat pocket with his loaded gun, he took a moment to think.

Blanca was going to be an issue and he wouldn’t be nearly so easy to deal with as Evanstine was.

He remembered the first time Papa Dino had hired Blanca. Not to capture Ash, but years ago when Papa Dino had decided Ash needed a teacher. Gregory had been there when Blanca had shown up, smiling and pleasant as he introduced himself at the door and said he had an appointment with Monsieur Golzine. He hadn’t seemed like much, but Papa Dino had paid handsomely for Blanca. He’d paid ten thousand dollars simply to have Blanca come to his mansion for a meeting to discuss Ash and plenty more fat paychecks had followed that one after Blanca had agreed to take on the role of Ash’s teacher. It was a role Blanca took seriously. Even before Blanca had formally accepted the job, Gregory had come upon a scene in Papa Dino’s garden. Marvin and Blanca had faced off, young Ash, only fourteen-years-old, cowering against a wall between the two of them. Even as he’d approached them, Gregory had seen that it would have gotten ugly if he hadn’t told Marvin to go to Papa Dino. Several days later it did get ugly when Blanca broke Marvin’s wrist after catching him assaulting Ash.

That moment had marked a change in Ash. Ash had gone from avoiding Blanca as much as he did every other adult in the household to a wide-eyed devotee following Blanca around like a shadow. After being saved, Ash had never hidden from Blanca, unless it was part of his lessons. He would go willingly when Blanca called for him, a dog called to heel. Papa Dino had been amused by it, for a time. When Marvin had complained to Papa Dino about the broken wrist, Papa Dino had suggested that Marvin keep out of Blanca’s way, but done nothing else. Blanca was too valuable when it came to Ash’s future worth - far more valuable than Marvin. A first-rate assassin - some would say THE premiere assassin in the world - Blanca had been hired to teach everything from espionage to assassination and everything in between because he was the best. Blanca was dangerous. One-on-one, he was probably one of the most dangerous people on Earth, which was why Gregory had made no effort at all to rescue Angie when Blanca carried him away and had no intention of crossing Blanca’s path. He wouldn’t be able to use his hideout as he was sure Angie would have sold him out.

He had his shoulder to deal with. The bullet wound was immensely painful, though he’d had enough bullets in him to know it wasn’t a fatal shot. He did consider going to a hospital to get it taken care of, but it was too risky. If Blanca was looking for him, as Gregory was sure he was, then Blanca would surely look in the hospitals as he must have known Gregory had been shot. He decided against it; he’d rather take the bullet out himself or let it stay where it was than run into Blanca.

Later, still nursing his wound, Gregory sat in a small donut shop with a cup of coffee in front of him. The suitcase, still in the shopping bag, was on his lap. There was a television in the donut shop, hung in one of the corners of the room and Gregory came to attention when a news report mentioned Club Cod.

“... Club Cod restaurant, in the middle of Manhattan, with a truly horrific story. On a tip from an award-winning journalist the NYPD has conducted a raid on the Club Cod seafood restaurant on the suspicion of human trafficking. We’ve been informed by Captain Jenkins of the NYPD that the police arrived at 8 a.m. and took into custody every person inside the building. There were no patrons as it was so early in the day, but there were four adults taken for questioning. They also found twenty-seven children between the ages of eight and fourteen dead. We aren’t clear on exactly what happened, but we do know that police suspect Club Cod was being used as a headquarters for both a child prostitution ring and child pornography, keeping children as sex slaves.” 

Gregory stopped listening when several gurneys were rolled out of Club Cod, all of them had white shrouds covering very small bodies. He knew what had happened. It was the emergency procedure for Club Cod. In the event of a raid - which had always seemed impossible because they had bought cops on the force paid to keep that sort of thing from happening - the merchandise was to be killed to prevent them from talking and the staff was to run. Papa Dino’s opinion had been that if any of the staff was caught, it was their own fault for not running fast enough.

Drinking the last mouthful of his coffee, Gregory reflected on the news. Club Cod was being investigated and several of the staff had been taken into custody. He had no doubt who was responsible for the mess. No doubt at all. Who else would be responsible but Ash? Ash was the only piece of merchandise to ever survive Club Cod. Who else knew about it and could tell? Gregory had known the boy would be trouble the moment he’d seen the glitter in Papa Dino’s eyes when that fool, Marvin Crosby, had brought Ash around and offered to sell him to Papa Dino. That little eleven-year-old boy had been innocent enough, young and blonde - exactly Papa Dino’s taste - but Ash had shown signs of intelligence and guile. He showed signs of being potentially dangerous and Papa Dino, rather than killing the boy, had lusted after that danger.

With his hand resting on the metal suitcase, Gregory wallowed in his rotten thoughts. It was all Ash’s fault. If it hadn’t been for Ash, Papa Dino would be alive. Club Cod would be running like clockwork and of no interest to police officers or news reporters. Gregory would be in his apartment in Papa Dino’s mansion, putting on one of his very nice suits as he got ready to start his day. He wouldn’t be in a third-rate donut shop drinking foul coffee in a filthy suit stained with his own blood. It was entirely Ash’s fault. Gregory’s hand tightened into a fist. It was time to find out what Papa’s alley cat was up to.

A ringing drew Gregory out of his thoughts and he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. The number wasn’t familiar, but it was possible that another one of Papa Dino’s people had survived and was trying to make contact so he answered it. “Hello?”

“Hello, Gregory.”

He wasn’t entirely shocked to hear Blanca’s voice. “What do you want?”

“I wanted to know that you are still alive before I started hunting. If you were dead, I wouldn’t want to waste my time. Thank you.” Then Blanca hung up.

Gregory stared at his phone, then closed it. He stood up from his seat and, taking the metal suitcase with him, left the donut shop. He walked across the street to a small park where he went to the edge of a large fountain. He didn’t hesitate for even a minute before he pitched the phone in the fountain. It hit the water with a splash and when it sunk the sunlight caught on the ripping water like liquid fire. He walked away before the ripples settled, his mind entirely focused on finding a hiding place Blanca wouldn’t find.

Phil -

When Ash, less than gracefully, agreed to go into protective custody, Phil breathed a sigh of relief. He pulled out his phone immediately to send Tony a message to say they’d be bringing the witness home in a few hours, with any luck, and to get a couple of rooms ready. There were other details to see to - he would have to call Nick Fury and let him know all was well, they would need to find out who’d attacked Ash, talk to the police about the attack, and...

The hospital room’s door opened and Ash’s doctor, a middle-aged woman with gray streaks in her dark hair and a no-nonsense demeanor, walked in. She looked at Ash with a decidedly disapproving frown, which Ash smiled at. “Your nurse told me you want to leave. I can’t change your mind, Mister Lynx?”

Ash shook his head. “Sorry, Myra. I got things to do.”

“Sure, things like dying if that wound gets infects or starts bleeding or... you get my point.” She sighed and shook her head. “I have some discharge information for you, if your guests would like to step out of the room for a minute?”

“Naw,” Ash said with a shake of his head. “They’re alright. ‘Sides, I’m pretty sure I know what you’re going to tell me - take my meds, come back if anything changes or gets worse. Get lots of rest. Eat and drink. Yadda, yadda. Right?”

The doctor, Myra, rolled her eyes. “No, not just ‘yadda, yadda’.” She handed him several pieces of paper. “Those are your instructions and dietary requirements. You’re not allergic to any painkillers, so I’ll give you...”

“Nothing.”

Everyone in the room went quiet. “Are you sure about that?” Steve asked. “That’s a pretty serious injury. There’s nothing heroic about enduring unnecessary pain.”

“I don’t like drugs. I’m fine.” Ash took the papers from Doctor Myra and scanned them so quickly that Phil seriously doubted Ash was actually reading it. “This is good. Thanks for the info.”

Doctor Myra was clearly not impressed with Ash’s disinterested attitude. “You’re going to die young, if you’re not careful! You’ve been in here three times in the past two years and the last time you almost didn’t make it. I don’t want you back here for anything more serious than the sniffles. You must take better care of yourself.” Despite what Ash had said, she filled out the prescription for the painkillers just in case he changed his mind, she’d said, and gave him careful instructions about when, how, and how much to use. Then she gave him a prescription for antibiotics, which he didn’t argue about.

It was then that Max stepped forward. “”Cuse me, but I was a military medic. If you can give me the information, I can see that he gets looked after.”

Ash sulked. “What am I? A dog? I don’t need to be ‘looked after’ by anyone.”

“I can help, too.” Bruce stepped forward after a moment and gave Doctor Myra a sheepish smile. “Ash is going to stay at my home, so I’d like to know what he needs.”

With Ash’s permission, Doctor Myra told them instructions for Ash’s recovery, including danger signs to look for and a very strict demand that he do absolutely nothing but rest for at least a week. “He’s not only got the stab wound on his torso, but he’s also got one on the shoulder, and we had to remove a bullet from just above the stab wound in his torso. No activity, no excitement!” She gave Ash an stern look and Phil guessed she was only just holding back from shaking her finger at him.

With the beatific expression of an angel, Ash humbly agreed and thanked her sweetly for her time. He also took the time to ask her to thank the nurses and the L.N.A.s for all their help.

“Don’t try to play me, sonny.” Doctor Myra sniffed. “You’ve been my patient three times - I’m used to your flim-flam!” Then she did shake her finger at him. “Do not come back here with anything life threatening for at least a year! Understand?”

“I’ll do my best.”

Doctor Myra huffed and crossed her arms. Then she sighed and her shoulders slumped and she leveled a serious look at Ash. “Look... Ash. Honestly, if you feel worse or worried about anything, please come back. There will be a warm bed waiting for you.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not stupid.” He kept smiling right until Doctor Myra walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. “Max, I need a phone. I’ve got business to deal with. And my gun. Who the Hell took my gun?” He looked accusingly around the room. “I had it when I went into the library and now it’s gone, so someone here better have it.”Ash looked at Bruce, then at Steve, and demanded, “Which one of you has it? Or did they take it from me here?”

“I took it from you at the library,” Steve said. “Don’t worry, you don’t need it here.”

Ash’s eyes narrowed. “Give it to me.”

“Guns aren’t allowed in hospitals. You’re also surrounded by some of the most powerful people in the world whose only mission at the moment is to keep you safe. You don’t need it.”

“I have a permit, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Steve’s eyes went wide. “You need a permit for a gun?”

Phil would explain later.

“What is this?” Ash said, hotly. “Robbery? It’s mine! I paid good money for that.”

“I’m not robbing you and there’s no point in getting upset. I don’t have it, anymore.”

“What? Where is it?”

“Well, I had to give it to the police, didn’t I? I can’t bring a gun into a hospital and I had to make sure you were alright. I’m sure they’ll take care of it.”

Ash let out a dramatic sigh. “Man, now I have to buy a new one.”

“Well,” Jessica stood up from where she been sitting and handed Michael to Max. “Now that that’s all settled, I need to get a few things from the apartment if we’re all going to be on lock-down. Michael and I need clothes and our toiletries, if nothing else.”

“’N my teddy bear.” Michael said from where he was happily seated on his dad’s lap.

“And your teddy bear,” Jessica agreed.

Ash said, “Find me a phone? Mine broke. I’ll pay you for it.”

“I’ll get you one.” Jessica kissed Max and her son, then grabbed her purse. “ “If you’ll all excuse me.” She started for the door, but Phil stepped in front of her and said,

“We’ll send someone along just to make sure you get there and back safely. We can meet you at the Avenger’s Tower.”

Jessica’s eyes narrowed. “You are all supposed to be looking after that brat.” She pointed a finger over her shoulder at Ash who, apparently, took no offense at the insult. “And my son. I won’t have you neglecting the children.”

“We did just agree to protective custody for all of you,” Phil reminded her. “Ash will be safe here. Natasha, will you go along with Ms. Randy?”

“Of course.” Natasha opened the door for Jessica. 

“And I’m not meeting you at your tower,” Jessica stated, firmly. “Ash needs clothes unless you’d like to see him walking around in public with his bottom on display to the world in that hospital johnny. I’ll be back in about an hour.”

There was nothing to do after that but wait for Jessica to return with clothes for Ash so everyone made themselves comfortable. Phil leaned against a corner and pulled out his phone to send the messages he needed to send. He almost missed when Clint, quiet and solemn, went to stand near Ash’s bed and asked, “You don’t have to answer, but can I ask a question?”

Ash shrugged. “I can’t stop you.”

“I heard about what they say happened in Club Cod and you told Phil you were a survivor of Club Cod.”

Phil’s eyes lifted from his phone to discretely watch Ash’s reaction, wary for any emotional response, but Ash seemed just as calm as he had been at the Chang Dai restaurant. Phil didn’t see much of a reaction at all, in fact. Ash just sat there and waited. Watching Clint was just as important. Clint, who was normally so calm, so at ease with himself, shifted from foot-to-foot and his hands twitched uneasily at his sides. Whatever ran through his mind disturbed him and Phil was uneasy just watching him. He had known Clint for a good few years and didn’t think he’d ever seen him so visibly upset.

Finally, Clint asked, “How did they get you? How did you come to be at Club Cod?”

“You’re nosy.” Ash turned his face away from Clint and looked suddenly interested in the trees outside.

“Yeah. I’ve been told that before. So, what happened?”

“None of your business.”

Max cleared his throat. “Actually... Ash... that’s the whole point of all this. Isn’t it? You’re going to tell the whole world exactly what happened. Don’t get me wrong - you don’t have to tell him anything, but, sooner or later, he’s going to find out. If you don’t want to tell one person, will you be able to stand up in front of the world? I know this is damned hard for you, God knows I don’t think I’d have the courage to talk about, but if you want to bring those people down, you will have to talk about it and not everyone’s going to be nice about it. Some people are going to have really scummy reactions to you if you tell. If you don’t want to do this, tell me. I can stop this. I can use the hard evidence we have to take those people to trial and leave you out of it entirely.”

Ash crumpled the hospital blankets in his fists. “I don’t want to talk about. I’d rather have my left arm chopped off than talk about. But I have to. I HAVE to let the whole world know about them or they’ll just do it again and again and again. They hurt me. They hurt a lot of kids. I won’t let them get away with it. They won’t get away with it just because I’m a coward. I will give every name to the cops and I will stand up in court and tell about every dirty, filthy thing those monsters did!” He glared at Max and then turned that glare on Clint. He said, without any shame, “I was living on the streets and I was found by a goddamned perv who sold me to the perv owner of Club Cod. He put me to work there. I was eleven. Any more questions?”

“Do you have family?”

Ash’s glare vanished and his face went eerily still, like a statue. “I’m fine on my own.”

Phil didn’t like the sound of that and made a mental note to do a little research on his own and find out if Ash had any family. More than likely, that sort of thing would turn up when the police did their investigation, but Phil wasn’t above helping. ‘More than likely,’ Phil thought, ‘Ash is an orphan.’ It wasn’t certain, though. If he did have family, they would surely want to know where he was. He honestly couldn’t remember Griffin ever mentioning his parents, though he’d talk until the cows came home about his little brother. There was also the matter of Griffin to look into. Phil didn’t see how Griffin’s fate had anything to do with Club Cod, but Max had mentioned that it would come up in the trial, so there had to be a connection. 

Clint didn’t look entirely satisfied with the answers he’d gotten from Ash, but he let it drop and stepped away from the bed. He moved to stand next to Phil and whispered, “In the circus where I grew up... there was...” He hesitated, then stopped. He smiled at Phil. “Never mind. It’s nothing.”

It WAS something and Phil didn’t like it when his team was bothered. Clint didn’t talk about the circus. Phil only knew about the circus where Clint had been raised because Clint had to answer certain questions when he’d joined S.H.I.E.L.D., but Clint certainly didn’t have heart-to-heart conversations about his early life. That he would bring it up at all was a big warning bell. Another something to deal with back at the tower with a little privacy. 

Michael shook a finger at Ash. “You said a bad word.”

“Sorry, Michael. I’ll put a penny in the swear jar, ‘K?”

Less than an hour later, Jessica and Natasha returned with two bags full of clothes, toothbrushes, and other little things that might be needed. Natasha looked at Phil. “No issues. All is quiet.”

Jessica handed a pair of gray sweat pants and a sweatshirt to Ash. “Sorry. It’s probably not your style, but it looks warm and it’ll cover you head to foot.”

Ash took the clothes and promised, “I’ll pay you back.”

“It’s a present, Brat. Just say ‘thank you’ and get dressed. The sooner you get to your new hideout, the sooner you can get some rest.” She looked around the room. “I think everyone can go take a hike for a few minutes while he gets changed.” And her attitude clearly stated that she wouldn’t deal kindly with anyone who ignored her. 

Max did ignore her. He handed their son to her and said, “I’ll stay in the room in case he needs help.”

“I don’t help to put my pants on!” Ash protested.

“Someone stuck four inches of metal into your belly and you’ve lost entirely too much blood in the past few days. Let’s not forget the bullet you didn’t tell me about or your shoulder. Forgive me if I don’t want you passing out the minute you stand up.”

A half-an-hour later, they were nearly ready to leave. All the proper paperwork was filled out and Ash, wearing his new clothes, sat on the edge of the bed, tapping away on the cell phone Jessica had given him. He didn’t tell anyone what he was doing, but from his expression, Phil guessed he wasn’t watching funny cat videos. He’d said he needed a gun and Detective Dickinson had said Ash was not only in a gang, but he was the leader of several gangs that worked together, like an emperor of the streets. Was he contacting his people? Giving orders to kill the person who’d attacked him? It was disturbing to even think about someone Ash’s age involved in such things, but Phil wasn’t fool enough to ignore the realities of life. 

The moment a nurse brought in a wheelchair for Ash, Ash had his hackles up, again. “I don’t need to be wheeled out of here. Like Hell I’m gonna be seen that weak.”

“It’s hospital policy,” Ash’s nurse told him. “It’s only to your vehicle.”

Ash rolled his eyes. “Save it for someone who needs it.”

The argument that was sure to break out, as Phil could see Ash tensing for a fight, was broken off when Michael slipped off his dad’s lap and took Ash’s hand. “Don’t be afraid. I’ll ride with you.” He smiled up at Ash with such honest care that Phil actually saw the moment when Ash’s defensive wall slipped. His face softened for the flash of an instant before it hardened, again.

Ash stuffed his hands in his pockets and huffed. “If Michael wants a ride...” He then growled at Max’s smug look, “Only to the parking lot! Got it?! I’m no invalid!”

So, with Ash seated in his wheelchair, grumpy and sulky, and Michael sitting on Ash’s lap, Ash was pushed out of the room with more attitude than anyone who had just suffered a serious injury and been through surgery deserved. Phil was more than ready to get to the tower and have Ash safely hidden away from anyone who might hurt him. They made it all the way to the hospital’s lobby before they stopped and Phil, taken-aback by the sudden uneasy atmosphere given off by both Ash and Max, tensed for a fight. He quickly scanned the room, but didn’t see any threats. He was aware that, as he was scanning for danger, his whole team had picked up on the discomfort and had moved silently into position around the people under their protection in a way that might have seemed casual to most people, but Phil knew was good enough to keep Ash, Max, Jessica, and Michael safe, no matter what came at them.

“Yut-Lung.” Ash almost growled the name. He stood up from the wheelchair and put Michael down on the seat before he stepped forward to face the person. 

Yut-Lung was a Chinese boy who looked like he was about the same age as Ash. He had very long hair pulled back into a severe pony-tail. He was small and almost delicate looking, even more-so than Ash. He was also dressed very well in an expensive looking overcoat and a fine suit. The two of them stared at each other like two tigers who’d unexpectedly crossed paths and were sizing each other up, deciding if a fight was necessary. Ash made as if to leave The Avenger’s protective circle, but Steve, who took point, as always, put out a hand to keep Ash from stepping in front of him. 

“You know him?” Steve asked, indicating Yut-Lung.

Ash nodded. “Yeah. We know each other. This is Lee Yut-Lung. He runs some things in Chinatown.”

Max had stepped in front of his wife and son and glared. 

Yut-Lung smiled. “Goodness, my dear friend. What an entourage you have.” His eyes didn’t leave Ash for even a moment. “Such illustrious company you’re keeping.”

“What do you want?”

Yut-Lung turned his nose up. “Nothing to do with you. Sing had to come here and I’ve come as moral support.”

“You? Moral support? You couldn’t morally support a snake.”

“I’ll have you know that Sing has been a great help to me as I wrestle Chinatown back into order. His older brother was just found, shot. He’s dead.”

Ash’s jaw tightened.

“Sing’s upset,” Yut-Lung continued. “So I’ve come here to support my underling. I’d ask what you’re doing here, but,” he made a show of sneering at the wheelchair, “It looks like someone’s feeling a little frail.”

“If this weren’t a hospital, I’d put a bullet right between your eyes!”

“Hrumph! Savage!” Yut-Lung looked just beyond Ash. “There’s Sing, now.”

Sing was even younger than Ash, fourteen or fifteen-years-old. He was a small boy and his eyes were red and swollen. He also glared murderously at Ash. A long moment passed, then Ash slipped around Steve and said, over his shoulder, “Wait here.” And he walked outside, standing just on the other side of the hospital’s glass doors.

When Clint went to follow Ash, Max stopped him and said, “Leave him be. He knows what he’s doing.”

“We can’t protect him from in here.” Clint stared after Ash.

“He won’t thank you for interfering and Sing won’t hurt him, not really. Just... Ash needs to handle things his way.”

So they all watched, tense, when Sing followed Ash outside. They stood a few feet apart and words were exchanged. Sing said something. Ash nodded his head. Sing said something else. Ash pulled up the bottom of his sweatshirt and showed off the large bandage covering the knife wound. He said something to Sing. Sing hauled off and slugged Ash right on the jaw.

Phil didn’t wait before he rushed outside. The doors opened just in time for him to hear Sing shout, with tears running down his face, “He was my brother!” 

To be continued...

A/N: Dear readers, 

Thank you so much for your kind reviews, I appreciate all of them very much. I wanted to let everyone know that the next chapter will be delayed a week because I’m working on getting an original novel published on Amazon in about a week. If you’d like to check it out, please look for, The Paper Treasure. 

Until next chapter...


	7. Research

Chapter 7: Research

Ash-

The moment Ash spotted Yut-Lung in the hospital’s lobby, he knew there would be trouble. Yut-Lung was far too sly and clever for Ash’s comfort. Ash stood at once, setting Michael down in the wheelchair, and ignored the pain in his guts. Everything hurt. Sometimes, it felt like he’d spent his whole life in pain. No point in dwelling on it, though. Ash focused on Yut-Lung. He was smaller than Ash and younger by a year or so, but he dressed the part of the scion of a wealthy family. Ash knew quality goods when he saw them and he could see how expensive Yut-Lung’s coat and shoes were. Even the decoration he wore in his hair was solid gold. Despite the decorations, Ash knew that, in a way, Yut-Lung was much like himself. They’d both lived through unpleasant things and survived.

Ash took a step towards Yut-Lung and Captain America held up an arm to prevent Ash from getting any closer to Yut-Lung. While that had irked Ash in the moment, later he would look back and judge it to be a good idea. He didn’t have his gun, after all, and he could see Yut-Lung’s bodyguards standing around here and there. 

Yut-Lung told Ash that Sing was in the hospital and had just learned that his brother had been killed. Ash felt his innards go cold. When Sing joined them, he looked at Ash with nearly as much anger as he had when Ash had first met Sing, on the night Shorter had died. Ash slipped by Captain America and headed for the hospital lobby’s door. On the front sidewalk, he stopped and waited. As he expected, Sing joined him immediately. Everyone else stayed inside. Max kept them back, Ash knew. Why Yut-Lung gave them a moment to speak and didn’t send his bodyguards after Ash, was a mystery. Regardless, he had a moment alone with Sing and it was owed. 

“My people say you kill Lao,” Sing said. “Did you?”

Ash nodded. No point in sugar coating anything.

Sing opened his mouth to say something, but then stopped and swallowed hard. He finally said, “Why?”

Ash pulled up his sweatshirt and let Sing see the large white bandage covering the stab wound Lao had given him. “Your brother tried to kill me.” And because he knew that Sing needed to release his anger before he exploded at someone who didn’t deserve it, Ash added, “He deserved what he got.”

As Ash had expected, Sing hauled off and hit him. It was a good blow and Ash deserved to be hit. Sing was young and angry and face-to-face with his big brother’s murderer, so what better time to lash out? Like lancing a boil, the pressure would be eased with Sing’s show of anger. Ash couldn’t fault Sing; he knew what inconsolable pain it was to have one’s big brother forever gone. Ash had killed the person who’d killed his big brother and didn’t regret it, so it seemed the least he could do was to let Sing hit him.

“He was my brother!” Sing yelled. 

The punch hurt, but it was hardly the worst Ash had ever taken. Sing was smaller than Ash, by far, and Ash had been beaten by much bigger people than himself, men who enjoyed and thrived on the act of hurting people. Sing was no professional and he didn’t actually want to hurt people. But he was in pain, his eyes were red and shone with tears, and that had given him strength. After the punch, Ash stood his ground and waited, patiently, to see if Sing wanted to hit him, again. With an actual enemy, Ash might have mocked them by inviting another hit. He didn’t insult Sing and stayed silent. When a second punch didn’t come, Ash stuck his hands in his pockets. He made no effort to explain. He had killed Lao. He wouldn’t excuse himself with reasons. Killing was killing, no matter the reason. The bare fact was that he had murdered Lao. Some might have called it justice or self-defense, but Ash knew very well that, in Sing’s heart, all that mattered was that Lao was dead.

Lao had stuck a knife in Ash and Ash had fought back. That he had fought back with a gun was a fact Lao should have expected. “Always expect a gun at a knife fight.” Blanca had once advised. Blanca was so smart.

Sing gasped for breath and visibly tried to get himself under control. Around them, they had an audience. Yut-Lung stood behind Sing and looked tense and unhappy. He wasn’t armed. Ash was certain of that. It would be wise for Yut-Lung to carry a firearm or a knife; he had too many enemies to rely entirely on his bodyguards and, if Ash liked him even a little bit, he might have advise it. As he didn’t like Yut-Lung, he advised nothing. Those bodyguards were a short distance away, waiting for Yut-Lung to give an order. Max and Jessica watched, concerned, but didn’t interfere. They knew the situation. Max’s friend, Phil Coulson, and The Avengers were unknown factors and they made Ash nervous. Heroes would want to interfere, but that would disrupt the situation and make a simple situation complicated. There were rules that people like Sing and Ash lived by and celebrity super heroes wouldn’t understand those rules. 

Time ticked by with Ash and Sing facing off. Finally, Sing wiped his face dry with his hands. “I get why you did it. My guys said...” Sing choked a little. “They said they saw you. They said Lao attacked you first. It was your right to... do what you did.” He choked a little. “He was brother. My only family. He... I... I don’t know what to do.”

Ash felt a little of the tension ease out of his spine. “You live. You can hate me, if you want, but it won’t make you feel better. I killed the bastard who killed my brother.” A sudden image of Griffin floated through Ash’s mind. His gentle brother who wrote poetry and sang lullabies to little Ash, his gentle brother who had stared into space, was plagued with seizures and nightmares and couldn’t look after himself anymore than an infant could. “The same person who killed Shorter killed my brother. He’s dead now. I filled him up with bullets. Abraham Dawson died in pain and fear in a puddle of his own blood and if he found a way to come back to life, I’d do it, again. And it still didn’t make me happy.”

“I know. I’m not a little kid.” Sing sniffed and wiped his face with his hands, again. “Look, my brother attacked you and you killed him. We both knows wars have started for less reason. Lao made his choice and he knew what it means to go against you. He went after you when I told him not to. I won’t go after you or yours for revenge.” He met Ash’s eyes, bravely. “You gonna go after my people because he attacked you? Are we going to war?”

“I don’t want to fight. As far as I’m concerned, it’s done.”

Sing nodded, sharply. “I gotta go. Gotta explain things to people.” He turned and started walking. Yut-Lung, after a moment of glaring at Ash, followed Sing, the bodyguards trailing loyally behind.

Ash turned to his waiting crowd and scowled. “What are you all rubber-necking for? Are we going or not?”

Earlier-  
Tony-

After Phil, Natasha, and Clint had gone out to meet with Max Glenreed, Tony settled in to working. Instead of going to his workshop as he normally would, he decided to sit at the kitchen table for no other reason than a change of scenery. He’d been doing pretty well on redesigning an experimental propulsion unit to maximize efficiency when Phil had called.

“Tony, can you do me a favor?” Phil asked.

“Sure thing. What do you need?” Tony put his pencil back to the paper in front of him and scratched a few numbers down before he began to draw a rough sketch of the innards of the propulsion unit. He hadn’t finished the drawing before he crumpled it up and pushed it away to start a new one. He began with new mathematical equations and then started a new sketch.

“It shouldn’t be any trouble for you and J.A.R.V.I.S., so I hoped you could get me some information about someone named Aslan Callenreese.”

“Sure. I’ll have it when you get back. Who is he?”

“Don’t worry about it. Clint, Nat, and I have to go take care of some business with Fury, so we won’t be home straight away. Tell Bruce and Steve not to worry, please.”

The mention of Fury caught Tony’s attention. He didn’t like S.H.I.E.L.D. much and as Fury was in charge of it, the feeling boiled over. Fury wasn’t a bad person, exactly, but he was a little too fond of secrets for Tony’s comfort. “Sure. Look, is Fury giving you trouble? I’ll come over and...”

“No. No. It’s really nothing to worry about. Good-bye.”

Tony said good-bye, too, and hung up. He meant to get to work on Phil’s request right away, but at just that moment he was hit by a brainstorm and spent the next several hours working on his design. Before he knew it, half the day had gone. He had entirely lost track of time. He only woke out of his work zone when Steve and Bruce walked into the kitchen, arguing. Tony watched them for a few minutes as they argued. Arguing with Bruce was a mild experience. He had so much practice controlling his temper that almost nothing could make him show even the most tame irritation which resulted in a softly spoken argument rather than yelling. Steve could get angry at an enemy, but with friends he was gentle and soft. So Tony watched the rather affectionate argument for a while.

“I’ll be with you the whole time. You know I won’t let anything bad happen.”

Bruce chuckled. “I know you’d try to keep everyone safe. You always do. But things happen. I just don’t think it’s safe.”

“I’ll ask Natasha to go with us when she gets back,” Steve said, wheedling. “No one with sense would get in her way. You said you’d try.”

“Things are different now and Natasha shouldn’t have to go out just to make me feel better. It’s safer here.”

“Safer isn’t always better. We should go.”

Curious, Tony jumped into the conversation with, “Hey, what’s going on? Are you going somewhere?”

Steve sat at the table with Tony. “If I can convince Bruce, we’re going to the library.”

“You won’t convince me,” Bruce said, still calm and easy. “All that terrible business with Club Cod... there were police cars all over the place and people wandering around to get a look. That place is right between us and the library. There are too many people around, now.”

“But,” Steve said. “As we already told Phil - we can take the alleys and side-roads. I even know a long route to get there that will keep us far from all that mess. Besides, all the people around might actually make things safer. General Ross can’t possibly be stupid enough to attack you in a crowded city in full day-light.”

Tony couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “You severely overestimate that man’s intelligence. Yes, he would be stupid enough to do something like that. You want me to go, Bruce? I can suit up and give you a proper escort.”

Bruce laughed at that. “I don’t think I could handle all the attention from an escort by Iron Man. I’m fine here. The library will send over any books I want to read.” He hesitated, then sat next to Tony. He crossed his arms on the table and rested his head on his arms. “It’s not just General Ross, though. Hulk’s upset.” Bruce closed his eyes. “I got upset about all that Club Cod stuff on the news and Hulk felt it. I don’t think he understands why I’m upset, but he’s not happy. I don’t want to take the chance of putting him in a situation where he might feel threatened.”

Tony didn’t entirely understand the relationship between Bruce and Hulk, only that it was complicated, but he’d come to know that there was a sort of communication between the two. “So, if you feel better, he’ll feel safer?”

“I expect so. I’ve been trying to calm him for ages, but it’s so hard.” Bruce went quiet for a moment before he said, “Those kids... what happened to them... it’s hard. I keep thinking that those kids in Club Cod were hurt and alone and there was no one to help them. When I was a kid, I was hurt and alone, too. That kind of stuff didn’t happen to me, but my father wasn’t very nice. He did a lot of bad things to my mom and to me. I keep wondering how those kids came to be in Club Cod. Were they orphans? Runaways? Did,” Bruce winced a little and seemed to curl up on himself. “Did their parents leave them at Club Cod? Would my father have left me at Club Cod?” Bruce slowly opened his eyes and he looked so sad that it nearly broke Tony’s heart. “I think he would have. I really think my father would have left me there. I think he’d have been happy to get rid of me and he wouldn’t have cared what happened to me there.”

Steve stood up and went into the living room where he took a blanket off the back of the couch and brought it to Bruce. As gently as he could, Steve draped the blanket over Bruce. Bruce smiled at him in thanks.

“I don’t know what to say to make you feel better,” Steve said after a few minutes of silence. “I don’t want you to be unhappy, but I really don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.” Bruce sighed and sat up, wearing the blanket like a shawl. “You can’t say anything, really. I deal with it. It just hurts right now and I need to let things in my head settle and when they do, Hulk will settle, too. It’s nice of you to worry, though.”

Steve said, “I wonder what Hulk would think of all this, if he was awake.”

“He probably wouldn’t understand, even then.” Bruce said, shaking his head. “It’s hard to communicate with him as we are, but I think he operates more on emotion than logic. Imagine trying to explain something logically to a toddler and that’s what he’s like. It’s better to just let him calm down for a while.” He gave Steve an apologetic look. “Maybe tomorrow we can go?”

There really wasn’t anything Steve could say to argue with that. So, he nodded. “Sure. We’ll try tomorrow and we’ll go real early to avoid the crowds.”

And, just like that, Tony got another inspiration. He ripped up the paper he’d been working on, threw it aside, and started again on a new design. That took up the rest of the day and by the time J.A.R.V.I.S. interrupted Tony to tell him to eat something, it was well after dark and Tony suddenly found that he was exhausted. After eating, he fell asleep having completely forgotten Phil’s request for information. He woke very late the next day and emerged from his rooms to find Steve and Bruce getting ready to go out.

“We’re going to try going to the library,” Bruce said. “We’re feeling a little better, so we want to...” he winced. “I’m feeling a little better, so I want to try going out. We may come back early, though. J.A.R.V.I.S., any suggestions for the least populated route to the library?”

“Yes.” J.A.R.V.I.S. put up a holographic image of the city streets and one route was marked with a red line. “This route maybe be what you are looking for.”

“Thank you, J.A.R.V.I.S., we’ll try it.”

“Right.” Steve put on a baseball cap and an oversized coat as an attempt to make himself stand out a little less. “But if we can we’ll be out for a few hours. By the way, I haven’t seen Phil or Clint and Natasha this morning.”

Tony slapped his forehead. “I was supposed to tell you - they went off to S.H.I.E.L.D. for something and said not to worry. If they’re not back today, we’ll storm the place to rescue them.”

Tony waited until Bruce and Steve had left the tower before he said, “J.A.R.V.I.S, we need to get to work on the stuff for Phil. Let’s make it quick, I want to tweak that propulsion unit and see if we can get the timing a little more accurate. Perfection won’t happen without a little effort, after all.” He got some breakfast and sat at the kitchen table with his tablet computer in front of him. “Why does the name ‘Callenreese’ sound familiar? I know I’ve heard it before. Doesn’t sound like a common name. Do I have an employee by that name? That’s awkward if I forget someone’s name.”

“You have no employees by that name, but Phil did mention a Griffin Callenreese, the other day.”

“That’s right!” Tony typed in the name ‘Aslan Callenreese’ into his computer. “I guess there’s a connection there. Let’s get searching.” He started small and found only basic information. Aslan Jade Callenreese had been born in Cape Cod. There were school records showing that he’d attended the local elementary school, but hadn’t finished first grade. There were no records that mentioned why he’d stopped attending. He found a mention that Aslan had a brother named Griffin. He made note of that, though he was fairly certain Phil already knew and that was the whole reason Tony was doing the research. More than likely, meeting with his old friend, Max Glenreed, had made him think of Griffin and he’d wanted to see how things were. “If he wanted to find his friend, he should have just asked us to find Griffin, right, J.A.R.V.I.S.?” Tony said, aloud as he skimmed through the meager information. “Phil said he got put in a veteran’s hospital, so he wouldn’t be too hard for us to find.”

“Patient’s rights, sir,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “Giving out information about patients without permission of the patient or whoever is responsible for making the patient’s medical decisions is surely a violation of the patient’s privacy. I could find Griffin Callenreese, but I am uncertain whether or not I should.”

“Good point. We’ll get in contact with his family so we can find Griffin. Score one to you for good moral judgment.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“You’re welcome. Now, here’s some info - looks like Aslan was born on August 12, 2001. That would make him about eighteen, now. His father’s name is James Callenreese, but there isn’t a mother’s name listed. That’s sort of weird, isn’t it? There are some sealed juvenile records. I think that falls under the whole “I can, but should I?” argument, huh? God knows I’ve done some stupid things when I was a teenager and I’m pretty thankful that those records are sealed.” He thought for a minute, disappointed in how little he was finding for Phil. “We’ll tell Phil we found it and if he thinks it’s important, then we can open them up for him.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tony found very little interesting or noteworthy until J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “I believe you may want to see this, sir.”

A holographic image appeared in midair in front of Tony. A mug shot. The photo was of a boy with bright blonde hair looking at the camera with an expression that could only be called empty. Tony didn’t see any emotion at all, though he was the first one to admit that he wasn’t really the best at reading people. Computers and machines made lot more sense to him than humans did. Humans really were confusing creatures.

The boy looked familiar. Tony couldn’t say where he might have met the boy, but he felt almost certain he’d met the kid before.

“According to the police report,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “Aslan Jade Callenreese was arrested on suspicion of murder a little over a year ago. The victim, Marvin Crosby, had been shot three times and was found dead in his apartment with Aslan standing in the doorway. Aslan was seventeen-years-old at the time but was sent to the state prison as authorities worried he would be a dangerous influence on the boys at the juvenile detention facility. The second day he was in prison, he was gang-raped and received medical attention for his injuries. He was released on bail two days after that, but then disappeared. There was no further mention of him until two months ago when he was arrested for multiple murders.”

Tony stared at the holographic forms J.A.R.V.I.S. showed him even as J.A.R.V.I.S. kept speaking. Something about the whole case wasn’t making sense. Sending Aslan to prison had been the decision of Judge Phillips of the district court, but Tony couldn’t see a lot of reasoning in the decision. There were other kids in juvenile detention on suspicion of murder and Tony hadn’t seen anything in the paperwork that marked Aslan as being any more dangerous than any other young kid on a bad path until J.A.R.V.I.S. mentioned the multiple murders. “What do we know about the kid’s murder spree?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? There can’t be nothing. There has to be something. Did he get charged? Go to court? What?”

“Nothing. There is no further mention of the incident.”

Tony frowned and sat forward, resting his elbows on the table.

“Elbows off the table, sir.”

“Sorry.” Tony sat back and, needing to do something with his hands while he thought, he went into the living room and picked up a Rubix Cube to fiddle with. “I don’t like this. If he was arrested, then he’s either in jail now or he was released. What was it?”

“There is no information.”

“You said he was raped when he was in prison. Did they find out who did it?”

“There is no indication that the matter was investigated. Aslan’s cell mate, Max Glenreed,”

Tony raised an eyebrow at the name of Phil’s friend. That was a point worth remembering. 

J.A.R.V.I.S. continued, “Made a complaint to one of the guards and to the warden, but I see no further paperwork about the incident. It was apparently ignored.” J.A.R.V.I.S. had long ago mastered the skill of showing his disapproval with nothing more than the tiniest inflection in his voice. The ice in his voice marked how vast his disapproval of situation was. “There is more, sir.”

How there could possibly be more, Tony wasn’t sure. From what little they’d found, the kid had not had a good life.

J.A.R.V.I.S. moved the the holographic image of Aslan’s mug-shot to one side and put another image up. That one, Tony recognized. “Is that my lobby?”

“Yes, sir. It is a still image of the security footage from this building’s lobby.” J.A.R.V.I.S. enlarged the image and focused on two people standing near the receptionist’s desk. “This is Phil. He had gone to collect his newspaper yesterday and met this young man. Please, look at the young man.”

The young man was a teenager. He was thin and unremarkable, like millions of other teenage boys. He dressed in denim and a hooded sweatshirt. His face was familiar. Tony looked back at Aslan’s mug-shot and then back at the teenager standing with Phil. He looked back and forth between the two pictures for a time. “J.A.R.V.I.S, am I imagining things or is that Aslan?”

“Given the similarities in facial features, I estimate that there is a 99.7 percent chance that both images are of the same person. Conclusion is that you are not imagining things.”

Tony looked a little closer at the boy in the photograph. Sharp face, bright green eyes. Thin nose. Tony drummed his fingers on the table top. “I think I know this kid.” He stared a little harder. “J.A.R.V.I.S., where do I know this kid from?” The memory was screaming to come back. 

“Unknown, sir.”

That made it all the more necessary to remember. He didn’t normally have anything to do with kids unless he was working on some kind of charity or he was giving a scholarship to a particularity hard-working student who wanted to go to college. Tony turned his head this way and that, trying to dredge up the memory. “Say, Phil had his phone on him when he went with the kid the other day. See if he left his phone on and if it picked up anything that was said. Maybe he mentioned the kid’s name.”

There was a few seconds of quiet before J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “Max Glenreed referred to the boy as Ash Lynx.”

And at the mention of the name, Tony remembered. It came back to him like a flash flood. 

Memory-

It was a party, but Tony was drunk and didn’t remember much. He hated parties like this. Everyone was all dressed up, standing around talking. It wasn’t a fun party, it was a business party. Obadiah Stane had insisted, saying that it was a good time to make more connections with potential investors because people with money went to this sort of party. Tony wasn’t even sure why he’d been invited to this one. He didn’t even know the host.

Tony grabbed another glass of champagne from a passing waiter. He’d had too much, really, but... God, he really hated business parties. He’d found a quiet corner to hide him, but that was lost when the host of the party apparently felt he needed to be hospitable and found Tony.

“Mister Stark,” Dino Golzine smiled warmly when he approached Tony. Golzine was older than Tony by a few years - he was maybe fifty or sixty - and was completely bald. He did have a moustache and dressed very well. He was also bigger than Tony. The man wasn’t exactly fat, but he was big. He looked like he’d been a very strong man in his youth and still kept that strength under a disguise of distinguished maturity. “I’m so pleased you were able to attend my little gathering.”

Tony probably said something in return, but he’d been too drunk to remember. Whatever he’d said, Golzine laughed. He didn’t seem upset by Tony’s inebriation, as many hosts had been when Tony decided the parties were too awful to make it through, but looked rather pleased.

“I’d like to introduce Ash Lynx.” Golzine gestured to a boy standing just behind him. Ash, who seemed to be maybe fourteen or so, was dressed just as well as any of the adults in a tuxedo. “Ash is one of the disadvantaged youth I’ve been trying to help. Ash, you’ll make Mister Stark feel welcome in my home, won’t you?”

“Yes, Papa Dino.” Ash stepped closer to Tony and smiled sweetly. “I’m very happy to meet you, sir.”

Golzine patted Ash on the shoulder “Be a good boy.” And then he was gone and Tony and Ash were left alone.

It may have been Tony’s imagination - he was very drunk, after all - but he was almost sure he saw Ash roll his eyes the minute Golzine turned his back. As soon as he looked at Tony, his expression was sweet as honey, again. “Well, how can I make you feel welcome?” He put his hands behind his back and moved a little closer to Tony.

“I don’t want to be here. Stupid, boring parties.”

Ash put a hand lightly on Tony’s arm. “Well, let’s go somewhere, then. We can be alone for a while. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Tony took another drink and threw an arm over Ash’s shoulders. “Right! Let’s go somewhere. Let’s go have fun.”

Ash gave a coy little giggle. “Yes. I’ll show you a good time.”

End memory-

Tony felt his bile rise and had to swallow hard to prevent himself from vomiting. The memory... it couldn’t be right. “J.A.R.V.I.S., I know this kid. God! I know him!” Tony got to his feet, shakily. He walked a few steps away from the kitchen table, then stopped and walked back. The memory couldn’t be right. ‘I’m not like that!’ Tony screamed at himself. ‘I’m not! I’d never hurt a kid! Never!’ But he couldn’t deny the memory. Looking back at the encounter with a sober head, Tony could see the insinuations and the invitation. He had put his arm over the kid’s shoulders and he had invited him to go have fun. “I think I’m a monster.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. let out a distressed noise of static. “You are not a monster, sir. I would know. Let us be logical, rather than human. You said you know Aslan Callenreese. How?”

“I was at a party. Some stupid networking thing. Stane wanted me to meet potential investors. This kid was there. He was younger, maybe fourteen or so, but it was him. That little kid offered to show me a good time. What if I took him up on the offer!” Tony couldn’t stop it then. The moment the words left his mouth, he knew he’d be sick. He ran for the nearest bathroom and made it just in time. When he was finished and rinsed out his mouth, Tony sat on the cold tile floor for a time, miserable and horrified at what he might have done. The boy had been so young - he should have been playing with his school friends. So young - practically a baby! - and Tony might have...

“Sir? Sir, please respond.” J.A.R.V.I.S. was quiet for a time, then repeated himself. “Sir?”

“I’m here. I’m here.” Tony got to his feet and washed his face. He stared at himself in the mirror. How did a person forget something like that?

“Phil and the others have arrived at the tower. They are on their way up.” J.A.R.V.I.S.’s voice was warm and he said, “Please, don’t worry. We will figure this out. You are not a monster. I know you better than anyone else and I know you are not a monster.”

Tony made an effort to smile. “Thanks, but how can I know? I was so drunk I don’t remember the rest of that night. I was introduced to the kid and I walked away with him and then... nothing. It’s all a blank. Oh, God! How am I going to tell Phil?”

Tony hadn’t had a father in years, but, if he had to pick a father-figure, he would have picked Phil. While they hadn’t always gotten on wonderfully, Phil was calm and patient and strong... everything Tony had ever wanted in a father. The very last thing he wanted was to disappoint Phil in anyway and telling him this was sure to disappoint him. Horrify him. Sicken him. Phil would never want to even look at him, again. The rest of the team would leave. He was no better than the people at Club Cod!

“Sir,” J.A.R.V.I.S.’s voice broke through Tony’s spiraling panic. “Please allow me to summarize. You attended a business gathering and met the boy Phil wanted you to research. After that initial encounter, you remember nothing.”

“Yeah. Yeah. That’s right. But what other explanation could there be?”

“I don’t know, but we can’t conclusively say that you did anything illegal or immoral. I will suggest that the only logical thing we can do is ask the young man. It appears he is with Phil and has just stepped into the common room.”

Tony’s hands tightened on the sink. “The kid’s here? Ash?”

“Yes. It appears that the young man with Phil is the Ash in the photographs. Phil is inquiring about your whereabouts. What would you like me to tell him?”

For a moment, Tony was very tempted to tell J.A.R.V.I.S. to lie. To have him tell the others anything that would prevent them from looking for him so he could just hide in the bathroom for a few days. Anything, absolutely anything, that would prevent him from having to face the boy he might have hurt and didn’t even remember. But Tony was honest. He had many, many faults, but dishonesty wasn’t one of them. He wouldn’t tell J.A.R.V.I.S. to lie for him. “Tell him I’ll be right out.” He looked at himself in the mirror and squared his shoulders. He would face the music like a man and, when that was done, he was going to throw out all the alcohol he owned.

To be continued...


	8. Perfection

Chapter 8 : Perfection

Ash-

Ash watched Sing walk away, watched Yut-Lung follow, and then the bodyguards trail behind. Three bodyguards, all armed with guns. One guard was a discrete distance away and was probably trying to stay unnoticed. He failed. Ash watched them all go until they were out of sight and worked very hard at not feeling. He didn’t want to feel guilty for killing Lao. He didn’t want to feel guilty for causing pain for Sing who was really too good to be in their type of life. He didn’t want to grieve for another life he’d ended, another little piece of his humanity lost. He heard Blanca’s voice,

“Push it away. Lock those inconvenient feelings in a box and put them on a shelf. You don’t need them. They’ll only distract you.” 

It probably wasn’t healthy advice. He’d have to ask Max about that. Ash didn’t know much about Blanca’s life outside the short time he’d worked as Ash’s teacher, but he wasn’t stupid. He was reasonably certain Blanca’s upbringing was about as normal as Ash’s had been. Maybe it had been worse. 

Healthy or not, Ash did as he so often did and followed Blanca’s advice. He put the feelings of guilt and grief and put them in a box and put them on a shelf in his mind. There were other things to worry about.

Everyone was staring. Jeezum cripes, he hated people staring at him. Ash turned to his waiting crowd and scowled. “What are you all rubber-necking for? Are we going or not?”

“We are.” Phil came forward and gestured towards the parking lot. “I had a vehicle sent over earlier. We can leave straight away and get everyone settled.”

The vehicle was huge and had more than enough room for everyone. It even had a booster seat for Michael. Ash waited until everyone else had gotten in before he got in just to make sure he was sitting next to a door for a quick exit, if needed. Michael sulked because he wasn’t sitting right next to Ash but he was quickly distracted when Doctor Banner, Michael’s favorite super hero, sat next to him and gave him the chance to ask lots of questions (Does turning into Hulk tickle? Why is Hulk green? Is he a doctor, too? Are you super strong, too? Do you give shots, because I already had all mine and I don’t need anymore, please.) Ash had to haul himself up into the vehicle and it hurt. His gut was nearly screaming at him. His shoulder where Foxx had stabbed him, the bullet... damn. Everything hurt. Ash kept his face still and tried to put the pain away. He got in and ignored the seat belt.

“Hey,” Jessica nudged him. “Seat belt.”

“Not on your life,” Ash muttered back. He was not going to strap himself in when a quick escape might still be necessary.

Jessica didn’t look happy, and her eyes narrowed like they did when she was about to argue, but she said nothing.

“Tony sent the car for us,” Phil said to everyone once they’d all settled. “He’ll meet us at the Tower.” Phil drove, easily maneuvering through the heavy city traffic. At one point, when everyone had fallen silent, Ash’s stomach growled. Loudly. So loudly that everyone turned to look at him.

“Do you need something to eat?” Phil asked. “I’ve got some granola bars in the glove compartment.”

Ash was starving. He hadn’t eaten since... he hadn’t eaten breakfast as he’d been too absorbed in the letter from Eiji. He hadn’t eaten the night before as he’d been busy abandoning his little apartment and tying up a few loose ends. He hadn’t eaten lunch the previous day. He was so hungry. 

Like an evil mist, Dino’s phantom’s voice drifted through Ash’s mind, “You don’t eat unless I tell you to. I won’t have you gaining weight. I won’t have your perfection spoiled.”

Ash looked away from Phil and shook his head. “No thanks. Those things taste like tree-bark.” And Ash despised himself because Dino was dead and he was still controlling Ash’s life. It was all in his head, of course. He knew it. He knew he could eat anything he pleased and no one would stop him. But Dino had always been ironhanded about Ash’s diet and it had gotten into Ash’s head over the years. And the anorexia had hit after Dino had recaptured him.

Jessica glanced at him, but Ash ignored her and stared out the window. Jessica knew.

“I had that same problem when I was a teenager,” Jessica had told Ash when she’d realized he wasn’t eating. “I didn’t go through what you went through, but,” she shrugged. “Stuff happens to everyone. It’s hard to deal with an eating disorder.”

“I don’t have an eating disorder!” Ash had objected. 

She gave him a flat look. “Brat, do you think I’m stupid or something?” 

Of course she wasn’t.

Food was the least of his problems, surely. He was more than a little surprised to find that in the window’s reflection, he could see Doctor Banner also watching him with suspiciously narrowed eyes. He made a mental note to be wary of that one. Doctor Banner might be small and quiet, but there was something sharp and clever in his eyes shouting that the mild doctor could be dangerous, if needed. He knew that Doctor Banner turned into the Hulk at times - anyone who ever read a newspaper knew that - but he had the very distinct feeling that Doctor Banner could be just as dangerous as the Hulk, in his own way. That didn’t alarm Ash as pretty much everyone he knew was dangerous - even Eiji had his risky moments. Doctor Banner deserved caution, but really no more than Ash treated everyone else with.

They arrived at the Avenger’s Tower after a short, uneventful ride. The Avenger’s Tower was monumental, a massive structure of glass over a steel skeleton. It soared above the skyline. Phil parked the vehicle in a large, underground parking lot under the tower that was brightly lit and made Ash glance quickly around in case anyone was creeping around behind the other cars. Ash was the first one out of the vehicle and it was a relief not to be packed in so close other people. He waited while everyone else got themselves together and looked around for exits until Doctor Banner approached him.

“Ash,” Doctor Banner said, his voice soft and his body language screaming of his hesitancy. “Before we go up, I just wanted to say... well. The thing is...” He stuck his hands in his pockets and shifted from foot-to-foot until he finally appeared to find the words he was looking for. “I won’t say I understand what you went through at Club Cod, but my father... you see...” Doctor Banner closed his eyes a moment, then stiffened his shoulders. “I know that when life gets hard and awful things happen, the world can seem like a lonely place. If you want to talk or vent at someone, I’m willing to listen. And I’m sure you’re used to taking care of yourself, but everyone here,” he jerked his head towards where the other Avengers were heading towards the elevator. “Wants to help you. Honestly.”

With the ease that came from years of practice, Ash focused on Doctor Banner’s eyes, his expression, how he held himself and, to his surprise, didn’t see any deceit. While there were many reasons why someone would try to get into Ash’s good graces with a few kind words, he found that he truly believed Doctor Banner’s sincerity. So he gave a little grin. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.” He wouldn’t do anything about it, of course, but he would keep the offer in mind. He might confide in Max with certain things, but the only person he felt entirely comfortable confiding in was in Japan and safe and happy, just where he should be.

Ash kept quiet while they went up to the top floor in the tower in a large elevator, listening as Max chattered with Phil and Jessica kept up a conversation with Captain America, who was introduced as Steve, offering to put him in her next magazine shoot until Max fussed at her, “Not in front of Michael!” Then he said to Steve, “Don’t do it. She likes taking nude photos.”

Steve looked absolutely scandalized and blushed as red as a strawberry.

The elevator ride was long, but it gave Ash a good opportunity to listen and learn about his new captors/bodyguards. Phil would talk about everything and anything. Natasha didn’t say a single word. Clint was watching everyone, his eyes drifting from face-to-face. Doctor Banner stood in a corner and looked like he was trying to make himself as small as possible and God, didn’t Ash remember doing that most of his life! Steve was big and couldn’t look small if he wanted to, but he did appear to be making an effort to stand in front of Doctor Banner, as if to shield him from the crowd.

When the elevator finally stopped and opened up into an ordinary hall Phil lead them out of the elevator and to a room that was huge and elegantly lavish. It was very modern, all sleek lines and polished metal. There was a living room sort of set up with a television that was ridiculously huge. Who needed to watch t.v. like that, anyway? In an attached kitchen area, again all polished metal and expensive finishes, stood Tony Stark looking pale and sick. The look in his eyes when he saw Ash was awful - sad and guilty and full of self-hate.

Tony Stark didn’t look much different than the last time Ash had seen him at a party Dino had thrown specifically to get a business relationship started with him. Dino liked money and Stark had lots of it. Ash had never really understood how Ash seducing him was supposed to help convince Stark to do business with Dino, but his opinion had never been required.

“A-Ash?” Stark had to force the word out and it sounded as if it almost choked him. “Ash Lynx? The... the party?”

Ash rubbed the back of his head with his hand and sighed. “You remember that, huh? I thought you were so drunk that night, you’d have forgotten you were even there.” Ash remembered the night of the party where he’d met the infamous Tony Stark. A night like so many others.

Memory-

Ash was fourteen-years-old on the night of the party. He stood still and waited while Dino examined him. Ash hated it. Hated being inspected by Dino. Dino wasn’t exactly old, but he was getting close to sixty. He was a big, powerful-looking man with a completely bald head and a well-trimmed moustache. He walked around Ash, looking him up and down. He brushed his hands slowly over Ash’s shoulders, ran a hand down his back, brushed his fingers through Ash’s hair. “Lovely. Simply lovely. You’ll do very well tonight.”

They were both dressed in tuxedos. It wasn’t the first time and it wouldn’t be last that Dino had used Ash in such a way.

“Do you remember what you’re going to do?” Dino asked.

It was a stupid question. Ash never forgot anything. “Yes. You want me to make nice with Stark so you can get involved with his business.”

“And you will make nice, now won’t you?” Dino put a finger under Ash’s chin and lifted it, forcing Ash to look him in the eyes. “You’re going to be a good boy tonight.”

“Sure. I’ll be good.”

Dino patted Ash approvingly on the top of the head before he left and Ash was left alone in his room. His room that Dino had given him. It didn’t look like a teenager’s room. There were silk sheets on the king-sized bed. On one wall hung a gilded mirror and on the other wall was a painting. It was a very expensive painting that Dino had bought because there was a shade of yellow in it that reminded him of Ash’s hair. It was an ugly painting - an abstract thing of lines and blotches of colors. The carpet on the floor was plush. Everything about the room screamed of money, but it was no child’s room. There were no toys, no games. Ash remembered being very young and playing in his room back in Cape Cod. He remembered sitting on a rag rug next to his little bed and playing with a few toy cars. Everything was second-hand and most of the toys had been his big brother’s before he’d outgrown them. He’d had picture books, action figures, blocks, a soccer ball, and a pile of comic books. He had a little league trophy. Real bedrooms were meant to have those sort of things in them, but Ash had none of that. Ash went to stand in front of the mirror and looked at himself. The polished leather shoes on his feet were very comfortable. The suit had been tailor made to fit perfectly. His hair had been professionally styled to suit Dino’s current taste. Ash frowned at what he saw, then turned and left the room.

Dino’s mansion was in an uproar as servants rushed here and there to finish final preparations for the party due to start in less than half-an-hour. Ash had seen the guest list - all rich and influential - and knew Dino would be busy all night with his business connections. There had been a small orchestra hired for entertainment. The maids had cleaned everything perfectly. The kitchen was furiously busy preparing a fabulous feast so Dino could impress his guests. Ash didn’t care.

He went to a quieter corner of the mansion and knocked on an unremarkable door. 

“Come in.”

When Ash walked into Blanca’s room, Blanca was sitting on the small bed Dino had given him and smiled at Ash. He held one of his handguns and was cleaning it. He always took such good care of his weapons and had often lectured Ash on the care of his tools. “Hello, Kitten. Don’t you look spiffy?”

Ash rolled his eyes and went to sit next to Blanca on the bed. “I’m working tonight.”

“Ah.” Blanca’s smile dimmed. 

Ash didn’t elaborate and Blanca didn’t ask him to. There was no point. Ash didn’t want to talk about it and if Blanca knew all the dirty details, he’d only be made unhappy. There was nothing either of them could do about the situation. Ash put his hands on his knees, but was careful not to wrinkle the cloth when it was so close to the time for the party to start. It wouldn’t do to show up looking anything other than perfect. Dino wouldn’t like that at all. “Blanca?”

“Yes?”

“Can... for our next lesson, can we do something fun?”

“What do you have in mind?”

Ash didn’t have an answer. He couldn’t think of anything fun. He wanted to be with Blanca and be away from Dino’s mansion, but he honestly couldn’t think of anything beyond that. He tried. He really tried to think of something, but the best he could think of was just being away from people. He lowered his face. “Never mind. It’s not important. Look, I have to bring someone to my room tonight so don’t... don’t come by, okay?” Blanca sometimes did go to Ash’s room to visit, to check on him after an event. The last thing Ash wanted was for Blanca to see him and Dino’s guest in such a situation. God, it was bad enough when Dino wanted to watch.

“How about a visit to the public library?”

Ash look sharply at Blanca. “What?”

“I enjoy going to the public library to read. I go every Thursday afternoon. Would you like to go with me the next time I go?”

‘Yes!’ Ash’s mind screamed at him. ‘Yes, I want to go. Take me. I’ve never been to a library. Please? Please?’ Rather than saying that, he bit his lip. “If Dino doesn’t have anything else planned for me.” Because everything in Ash’s life revolved around Dino’s whims and pleasures. 

“I will tell him it is a part of your lessons. We we find some books to help in your education. And perhaps we will stay long enough for you to explore a bit.”

Ash almost cried. “Thank you.”

Blanca put his gun down on his lap and reached out. Ash flinched when Blanca’s hand got close to his face, but stilled when Blance froze for a moment to let Ash calm down. When Ash stayed still, Blanca finished reaching over and tweaked Ash’s nose with a gentle little squeeze. “No matter what happens tonight,” Blanca leaned forward as if to accentuate his words. “It’s not your fault. You did not want this, you did not ask for it. This is not your fault.”

Ash felt his heart lighten. He wasn’t entirely sure he believed it, but he managed a smile before he stood up. “Jeeze, you’re getting soft in your old age, aren’t you?”

“I expect so.” He didn’t offer to save Ash. They both knew that Ash wouldn’t accept any such thing. If Ash tried to run away, Dino would hunt him down. If he tried to hide, Dino would find him. He’d tried both and it never worked. Dino didn’t like such rebelliousness and had always punished Ash for it. Ash certainly wasn’t going to ask Blanca to get involved with all that. He wasn’t entirely sure that Dino could kill Blanca, but he wasn’t willing to take the chance. Blanca was nice to him and Ash couldn’t stand for Blanca to be hurt because of him. Before Ash left the room, Blanca said, “Come see me if you need me.”

“I will.” And Ash left, getting his head in the game and ready to grab Stark’s attention. He had absolutely no doubt in the world that in just a couple of hours, he’d be letting Stark in his room and there would be sex. Gross. Just the idea of getting naked around another person made Ash want to throw up. Not that it mattered. Dino expected Ash to play his role perfectly and failure was not tolerated.

Later that night, Ash, smiling as sweetly as Dino liked, trailed behind him like a good dog until Dino found the person he was looking for. Tony Stark was drunk as a skunk. Still, Ash kept smiling. Stark wasn’t as old as Dino, but to Ash he looked ancient. Just another old man.

“Mister Stark,” Dino smiled warmly when he approached Tony. “I’m so pleased you were able to attend my little gathering.”

Stark grinned weakly. “Pleasure’s all mine. Really. You have great booze here. I’m gonna get another one.” But he didn’t move from his place, leaning against a wall.

Dino laughed and Ash struggled not to frown. Dino was amused and clearly thought his plan was in the bag. Dino motioned for Ash to step forward. “I’d like to introduce Ash Lynx. Ash is one of the disadvantaged youth I’ve been trying to help. Ash, you’ll make Mister Stark feel welcome in my home, won’t you?”

“Yes, Papa Dino.” Ash stepped closer to Tony and looked up at him. “I’m very happy to meet you, sir.”

Dino patted Ash on the shoulder and it felt like a hammer slamming down on Ash. “Be a good boy.” And then he was gone and Tony and Ash were left alone.

Ash watched Dino walk away and rolled his eyes. Disadvantaged youth? It never failed to stun Ash how many people bought into Dino’s nice-guy act. He looked back at Stark. Blanca would have called Stark Ash’s ‘target’. Ash smiled for Stark and so began the act. He’d done it loads of times before and had never failed. “Well, how can I make you feel welcome?” He put his hands behind his back and moved a little closer to Stark. The ‘sweet little boy’ act worked on so many people.

“I don’t want to be here. Stupid, boring parties.”

‘Preaching to the choir, grandpa!’ Ash thought. He didn’t let his thoughts show on his face, but he put a hand lightly on Stark’s arm. “Well, let’s go somewhere, then. We can be alone for a while. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Stark took another drink and threw an arm over Ash’s shoulders. “Right! Let’s go somewhere. Let’s go have fun.”

‘Too easy,’ Ash thought. He wanted to push Stark away, wanted to yell at the man for touching him, but he didn’t because he knew very well that somewhere in the room, Dino was watching. So Ash gave a coy little giggle. “Yes. I’ll show you a good time.”

He led Stark to his room and it wasn’t easy. Stark was almost drunk enough to start walking into walls. He staggered at times and kept insisting that Dummy was cute and just a little slow and why didn’t anyone understand?! Ash had no idea what the man was talking about. It came to the point that Ash was leading Stark along the halls and had serious doubts about who was taking advantage of whom. He closed his bedroom door when Stark sat heavily on his bed and felt his gut churn with the ugly, sour feeling that he always felt when it was time for him to work. He prepared himself for the worst, for whatever disgusting depravity Stark would unleash.

Tetris.

For a full hour, they played Tetris on Stark’s phone.

And then, “I tell you!” Stark walked circles around Ash’s room, shaking his fist in the air. “Albert Einstein was a total chick magnet! He got all the women! God, I’d kill for his hair! Did you ever see that man’s hair? Such style! Such elegance! A real flair for fashion!”

He went back to playing Tetris for another half-an-hour before an alarm on his phone went off and he grinned at Ash. “That means Happy’s looking for me and it’s time to go home. Bye-bye, kid.” He left without another word and Ash, still dressed and untouched, stared after him, completely shocked. That was a first.

Ash followed Stark out to the front door and watched from the front steps as he was helped into his car by the chauffeur. He was very aware of the moment Dino stepped out of the mansion and joined him in time to watch Tony Stark be driven away.

Dino was not happy. He took a long puff on his cigar. “What happened?”

“He wasn’t into me. He wanted to play a video game. I tried.”

Another long moment. “Try harder next time.” He reached out and took hold of a few strands of Ash’s hair between two fingers and gave it a painful yank. “I don’t like being disappointed in you, sweetheart.”

“Right. Right. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sure you won’t fail a second time. Come back inside. Senator Kippard is here. Since you can’t handle your job tonight, you can entertain him.”

“Yeah.”

Dino looked at Ash sharply. “What was that?”

Ash swallowed hard. “Yes, Papa Dino. I’ll entertain Senator Kippard.”

“Good boy.”

It was hours later when Ash, sore and dazed, walked through the halls of Dino’s mansion. The party had ended long ago. Senator Kippard had left and, for a long while, Ash had laid in his filthy bed and stared at ceiling. He sniffled and covered his face with his hands. He got up and took a shower before he dressed, wincing when his shirt touched his back. He left his room and went to Blanca’s. He knocked and waited. It was well after midnight, but Blanca would hear. He was sure. But there was no answer. Ash waited a few minutes, then knocked, again. Still, no answer.

‘He promised,’ Ash’s thoughts seemed distant and detached. ‘He said I could come to him. He promised.’ Ash turned the doorknob and found that the door wasn’t locked. So he went in and closed the door behind him. Blanca wasn’t there, but Ash didn’t want to leave. The only other place he could go to was his room and it was dirty. So Ash looked at Blanca’s bed, made with military precision, considering. In the end, he dismissed the idea of getting in Blanca’s bed. Instead, he got down on the floor and crawled under the bed. He could see a pair of Blanca’s polished black shoes, the ones he wore when he went out. He could see the legs of the desk Blanca sat at when he read. He could smell the oil Blanca used on his guns. His hiding place felt right, as if Blanca was all around. There, in the darkness and silence, Ash felt relatively safe and fell asleep.

“Ash? Kitten?” The voice woke Ash at once and when he opened his eyes he saw Blanca, kneeling on the floor, looking under the bed at him. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived. I only stepped out for a minute. Are you alright?”

“Dino’s pissed at me. I failed. Let me stay here. I’ll be quiet. Please?”

Blanca held out a hand and, disappointed that he would be sent away, Ash crawled out from his hiding place without taking the offered hand. Blanca didn’t send him away, though. “Sit on the bed,” Blanca said. “We will talk.”

Ash did as he was told. “There’s nothing to talk about. Dino wanted me to have sex with some guy he wants to do business with, but the guy wasn’t into it. It’s not my fault - I tried. I can’t seduce someone who’s not interested. But Dino wasn’t happy so he gave me to that slimy Kippard.”

“You’re hurt.” It wasn’t a question.

“My back hurts.”

“Shirt off, then.”

Unlike almost anyone else in the whole world, Ash didn’t fight the order that came from Blanca. He took off his shirt and let Blanca see what Kippard had done to to him. He stood up and faced away from Blanca so Blanca could see Ash’s back. There was a long moment of silence.

“I see,” Blanca said, at last. “What did he whip you with? A belt?”

“Yeah. It’s gonna make Dino even more angry if I get scars. He almost killed Marvin, once, ‘cause Marvin cut my arm and it scarred. He made me go to a doctor and have plastic surgery to have it fixed. God forbid I look less than perfect.”

There was a creak from the bed as Blanca stood up and took his weight off the bed’s springs. Blanca moved to stand in front of Ash, looking down at Ash from such a height that Ash felt like a small child, again. “Will you let me help you?” When Ash nodded, Blanca took off his jacket and rolled his shirt sleeves up to his elbows. “Lay down on the bed on your stomach. Those wounds need to be cleaned.” With soap and water, Blanca did a thorough job of cleaning. It hurt. Every little touch hurt, but Ash stayed quiet and still because he knew Blanca wasn’t trying to hurt him. “I know you don’t like this aspect of your life, but it is part of your life and must be dealt with. When I agreed to be your teacher, my goal was to give you all the skills you will need to survive in this world. I know it’s hard to do the types of jobs the Monsieur give you.”

Ash turned his head to the side and looked up at Blanca. “How would you know what it’s like?”

Blanca’s smile was sad. “I am assassin - you know that. I have learned many skills in my life in order to be successful and I have not always been as big and strong as I am now. Once, not so long ago, I was ten-years-old and I was small. I was not raised in a place like this, but by an organization who gave me all the skills I would need to be a perfect assassin. We’ve been working on your skills, but I can teach you other things I know. Things you could use for situations like tonight.”

To not disappoint Dino would have been very good, but the idea of what he had to do in order to do that... Ash buried his face in Blanca’s pillow. “I don’t want to have sex with you. Not you.” Because Blanca was safe and Ash desperately didn’t want that to change.

“Of course not.” Blanca began to dry Ash’s back off with a clean cloth. “There’s no reason to go that far. All you need to learn is the right words, a way to hold your body, a certain expression on your face... it all falls into place. Sometimes, if you’re very lucky, you can get what you need before it comes to sex.”

“Good. If I could, I’d never have sex again.”

“Never?”

“Never.”

“Someday,” Blanca said, slowly. “You may meet someone you want to share sex with. Someone who likes you and wants to be good to you.”

But Ash shook his head. “Sex is gross. It’s dirty and cold and ugly and it hurts. It’s always nasty. Makes me want to throw-up. If I meet someone I like, I wouldn’t make them do that and if they liked me they wouldn’t make me do it.” Then he hesitated and looked back up at Blanca. “Lots of people like sex. Am I broken or something?”

“No. There’s nothing wrong with you at all. Now, sit up and put your shirt on.” He waited until Ash had done as he was told before he said, “I can’t teach you to enjoy something you loathe, but I can teach you a few little tricks that will give you an advantage in that type of situation if the Monsieur forces you to do that sort of thing, again. Tricks that can put you in control of the situation and allow you to manipulate the other person.”

To be in control... “Yes. Please.”

“In the morning, then. You will need to heal before we can work on your fighting, so we will start learning those tricks, first. Do you want to stay here tonight?”

Ash nodded. “Kippard wanted to do it in my bed so it stinks like him, now. My bed’s gross. The maids will clean it tomorrow, but I want to stay here.” Without further invitation, Ash slipped off the bed and crawled back under it, into the darkness.

“You can sleep on the bed,” Blanca offered. “I will sleep in my chair.”

Ash pillowed his head on his crossed arms and closed his eyes. “I like it here. It’s dark and no one will know where I am.”

“As you like.” Blanca handed Ash the pillow and the blanket from the bed. “Sleep as long as you need.”

And Ash fell back asleep, dreaming of, thankfully, nothing.

End Memory-

Ash couldn’t help but stare at Tony Stark, just for the briefest of moments, before he stuck his hands in his pockets and turned away. “Stop looking sick. You’re in the clear, anyway. You were a perfect gentleman.”

“You mean,” Stark swallowed hard. “I didn’t... we didn’t...”

“You didn’t have your wicked way with me, if that’s what you’re worried about. We played Tetris and you left. End of story.” There was no need at all to tell the whole story to a room full of strangers. While Ash was prepared to tell the world who had been clients of Club Cod, that didn’t mean he had to go into gory details. Certainly not with Jessica and Michael in the room and not when the mere mention of Dino could make Max teeter on the edge of combustion. While Ash knew that Max had plenty of reasons for hating Dino - the biggest reason being that it was because of him that Jessica had been raped - a deeply buried part of Ash liked the idea that maybe Max got angry for Ash’s sake. However, he didn’t like that when his past was talked about Jessica got sad or Michael got scared so he kept his mouth shut.

Stark let out a breath. “Thank God!” He looked up at Phil and gave a watery sort of smile. “I think you’re right. What we were talking about? The liquor cabinet? Time for it to go.” Then he gave himself a little shake. “Right. Well. I got that info you wanted, Phil. J.A.R.V.I.S. can give it to you when you’re ready.” He put a hand on Phil’s arm. “Can I talk to you a minute?”

For a brief moment, Ash wandered away from the group and over to a large window that overlooked the cityscape. He had seen similar views from many, many different apartments over the years and he had never liked them. He felt trapped. Why couldn’t the Avenger’s be sensible and have a home on the first floor? If anything happened, he was hundreds of feet from the ground and a quick escape. If it were just him, he’d have taken his chances on the streets rather than getting involved with the Avengers, but it wasn’t just him. In the glass of the window he could see the reflection of Max holding Michael in one arm while the other arm was wrapped lovingly around Jessica. To refuse the Avenger’s protection would be nothing short of selfish.

“Welcome, everyone,” an unfamiliar voice said. 

Ash spun around on his heel, but there was no one new in the room. He saw Max and Jessica also looking around for the speaker. Ash felt his whole body start to tense, though he didn’t know what he was supposed to do against a disembodied voice. He wanted his gun. He wanted the familiar, reassuring weight pressing at the base of his spine where it rested tucked out of the way behind his waistband. 

“My name is J.A.R.V.I.S. and I hope that I may make your stay here as comfortable as possible.”

To Be Continued...


	9. The Safe House

A/N: Dear Readers, just a note to let everyone know I expect to post on Saturday of next week instead of Friday.

Chapter 9: The Safe House

Phil-

As he drove his group away from the hospital and towards the Avenger’s Tower, for the first time in several days, Phil felt almost entirely at ease. Ash had agreed to go into protective custody and was in a vehicle filled with, in Phil’s completely unbiased opinion, the world’s most powerful super heroes who were also, in another of Phil’s completely unbiased opinions, the world’s nicest people. Everything was going to be just fine. He’d had that thought only seconds before he glanced in the rear view mirror at saw Ash, pale and grim. The blood loss had taken it’s toll on him and he stared at his reflection in the window as if he didn’t like what he saw.

He’d refused food, even when his stomach had complained loudly enough for everyone to hear it, and that worried Phil. From the look on her face, Ms. Randy knew about the problem and wasn’t happy about it. Still, it was hardly the time or place to confront Ash about it. It was just as concerning when Phil hit a pothole and he caught a glimpse of Ash wincing. He didn’t make a sound, but his face screwed up for just a second until he got himself under control, again. There was no reason that he had to be in pain, but he’d been adamant when he’d refused the pain medication and they couldn’t force him to take them.

Ash gave no further sign that he was in pain and by the time they’d arrived at the tower, he was obviously trying to act as if he were fine, but his movements were stiff and controlled and Phil had been around far too many wounded soldiers to be fooled.

Bruce kept a close eye on Ash, as Phil had entirely expected him to. Bruce was a very kind, compassionate soul and seeing anyone in pain distressed him. So he kept close when, in the elevator, Ash rested by leaning against a wall. It wasn’t easy for Bruce to get close to Ash as Max and Jessica hovered around Ash like wolves around their pup, but Bruce did try. Once in the living areas, they all went into the common room and found Tony, shaking and distressed. 

“A-Ash?” Tony choked the word out as he stared at Ash with a strange mix of revulsion and horror on his face. “Ash Lynx? The... the party?”

Ash rubbed the back of his head with his hand and sighed. “You remember that, huh? I thought you were so drunk that night, you’d have forgotten you were even there.”

Ash stuck his hands in his pockets and turned away. “Stop looking sick. You’re in the clear, anyway. You were a perfect gentleman.”

“You mean,” Tony swallowed hard. “I didn’t... we didn’t...”

“You didn’t have your wicked way with me, if that’s what you’re worried about. We played Tetris and you left. End of story.”

Tony let out a breath. “Thank God!” He looked up at Phil and gave a watery sort of smile. “I think you’re right. What we were talking about? The liquor cabinet? Time for it to go.” Then he gave himself a little shake. “Right. Well. I got that info you wanted, Phil. J.A.R.V.I.S. can give it to you when you’re ready.” He put a hand on Phil’s arm. “Can I talk to you a minute?”

Phil let himself be led away from everyone. Tony’s urgency was clear and Phil feared that at any moment, Tony would lose patience and blurt out whatever he needed to say in front of everyone, so he didn’t argue when Tony tugged him into an empty hall. “Tony, what’s wrong? What happened? Is... what you and Ash said out there... is this something to worry about?” Phil put a hand on Tony’s arm to steady him because he still looked a bit shaky.

None of that short conversation had inspired any good feelings. Of course Tony wouldn’t have hurt a child - the very idea of it was absurd - but that Tony had even been in that situation was reason for worry.

“Phil, I drank a lot that night - the waiter always seemed to be putting a fresh glass in my hand - and I told you what I was like back then. If Happy hadn’t been around to look after me, I probably would have been dead in a ditch a long time ago. But... but I was so deep in that night... Phil, I almost did the most evil thing!” Tony told Phil what he had remembered the moment he’d heard the name ‘Ash Lynx’ and how terrified he’d been that he might have committed a vile crime without intending to. “So,” Tony finished up. “I think it’s best to get the liquor cabinet out of sight, out of mind. I don’t ever want to worry about that again.”

Considering Tony’s spotty history with drinking, it was a very good decision, Phil thought. “That’s no problem at all, especially if it brings you peace of mind. But I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it. You’re a good person, right down to your bones. And Ash seems to be a pretty straight-forward sort of person, so I don’t think he’d lie to save your feelings.”

Tony didn’t even like parties, let alone business parties, so why he’d gone to one was a bit of a mystery. But it had been years ago when Obediah Stane had still been in the picture, so Phil presumed he’d had something to do with it. To a party where an underaged kid had been aimed at him. It was all too suspicious and Phil found it too likely that Stane had sent Tony there deliberately trying to get him into trouble.

“Yeah,” Tony said, softly. “I guess you’re right. Those are our guests, huh? I was expecting one person, not a whole family, so I’ve only got a tiny room with a single bed in it. I’ll go get a bigger place set up. You go back and do what you have to do. Sorry for dragging you away. I got myself worked up for nothing. Sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about. I’m happy to help.” Sometimes, Phil wondered if his team would ever get it through their heads that he was there to help them. As their handler, it was his job to make sure the Avengers were able to preform their duty. As a friend, he wanted them all to be happy and healthy and was willing to do what was necessary to make that happen. “Before you go, I should tell you - Ash is the witness.”

Tony didn’t look at Phil. He stared at his feet, then at an empty wall. Finally, he gave a short, bitter laugh. “Of course. God, how stupid can I be? Cub Cod was operating for years right in sight of my home. That kid not only went through Hell there, but I came face-to-face with him at a party and I didn’t even help him. I could have, you know. If I hadn’t been so drunk and I’d been just a little smarter, I could have grabbed the kid and taken him away from there. He might have told me what was going on at Club Cod and I could have helped all the other kids. No, I needed a damned drink and I played Tetris!”

“Hey now!” Phil objected. “Don’t you put any blame for yourself on this. You didn’t realize what was going on at the time. From what you told me, you thought you’d met a nice kid and had a little fun playing a video game. That’s all. Things might have worked out differently if you’d made different choices, yes, but you didn’t put him in that situation. You didn’t keep him there for years. This isn’t your fault. There are a lot of people who could blame themselves for not noticing something or not realizing something was off with that place, but the only people to blame are the ones who kept those kids prisoners and the ones who rented them. And we’re helping to stop them.”

Tony didn’t look entirely convinced, but his temper had softened and he nodded. “Right. You’re right. I don’t think this is the kind of thing Iron Man can help with. Maybe I should see if I have a few spare lawyers who want something to do. That might help. Let me go get some people working on the extra room. It’ll only take a minute.”

As Tony walked down the hall and turned a corner, Phil was seriously divided about whether or not he should follow Tony to make sure he was alright or go back to the common room to sort out everything with their guests.

J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “Please, see to our guests. I will look after him, Phil. Don’t worry.”

“Thanks,” Phil said, relieved. Of course J.A.R.V.I.S. was the best person to look out for Tony. Who better? 

Phil went back to the common room in time to hear J.A.R.V.I.S. say, “My name is J.A.R.V.I.S. and I hope that I may make your stay here as comfortable as possible.” Obviously, J.A.R.V.I.S. could split his attention between Tony and the newcomers. Phil was used to J.A.R.V.I.S. and heard the warmth in J.A.R.V.I.S.’s voice. He knew very well that J.A.R.V.I.S., while a computer, was every bit a compassionate, sensitive person and his only intentions in introducing himself was to make his new residents feel welcome.

At the sound of J.A.R.V.I.S.’s voice, however, Ash went so tense that Phil thought he might actually hurt himself. His eyes made a quick scan off the room, obviously looking for the source of the voice and looking decidedly unhappy when he didn’t see it. Max, too, had gone tense and his fingers twitched at his sides.

“Who was that?” Jessica asked. Unlike Ash and Max, she didn’t seem unduly cautious, but she was curious.

“That,” Natasha spoke up. “Was J.A.R.V.I.S. and he takes care of us.” She paused then and looked at Phil. “Do they need further information?”

“It won’t do any harm.”

Natasha continued. “J.A.R.V.I.S. is a computer program, a person who is also a computer. You will not see him by looking around - he is everywhere. He is in control of the entire tower. He sees all and knows all.”

While true, the explanation was a tad on the ominous side and Phil couldn’t fault their guests for looking rather unhappy. He added in, “J.A.R.V.I.S. is here to help. Aren’t you, J.A.R.V.I.S.?”

“Yes, Phil,” J.A.R.V.I.S. answered. “If you have questions or concerns, please simply speak out loud and I will hear you and answer to the best of my ability.”

Michael tugged on Max’s hand. “Daddy? Is there a ghost?”

J.A.R.V.I.S. laughed, a soft chuckle. “I am not a ghost. I am a computer program. I do apologize if I frightened you.”

Michael hugged his teddy bear a little tighter. “I’m not scared. Sure you’re not a ghost?”

“I’m sure.”

“Okay. Are we living here, now?” He looked up at his parents, both of whom looked at Phil.

“For a little while, until all the trouble had been solved,” Phil said. 

“I need a gun,” Ash said, out of the blue.

“You really don’t,” Steve told him. “Not when you’re here.”

Max shook his head at Steve. “Don’t bother. Ash, I’ll get you a gun. You want another revolver?”

“Yeah. If you can’t get it, I know someone who can.” 

That Max didn’t argue or question Ash about needing a gun, just accepted it as a necessary fact of life, made Phil wondered what had happened to them that the need for weapons was so obvious and natural to them. Tony rejoined them and told Phil he had people working on the living situation for the guests.

“We can talk about a gun, later,” Phil said, raising his voice. He hoped to put off that talk. After all, Ash was severely wounded and would need a great long while to recover. Phil entirely doubted that Ash would be able to properly use a gun for the next few weeks, at least. “If everyone could gather round, we can all get on the same page. Ash, you need to get some rest. Why don’t you lay down on the couch and...”

“I’m fine. I don’t need to lay down.” Ash kept his place by the door.

“I have to agree with Phil,” Bruce said. “You were very lucky that the knife missed all your internal organs, but you still lost too much blood. You need to rest.”

Ash smiled and shook his head. “No, thanks.”

Just as Bruce looked ready to set into a softly spoken lecture about taking care of one’s health, Jessica strode over to Ash and looked him straight in the eyes. She planted a fist on her hip and stood tall enough to look down her nose at Ash which was only possible because of her six-inch heels. “Brat, you are fresh out of the hospital and if I had my way, you’d still be there! If you’re going to be stubborn about not staying in the hospital, then you’re going to lay down and rest and, hopefully, prevent your innards from spilling out all over the floor!”

Michael looked up at his father and asked, “What’s ‘innards’?”

“Your insides,” Max answered. “Mommy doesn’t want Ash to start bleeding again, so he needs to rest.”

“I don’t need to lay down,” Ash protested, slipping away from Jessica. “I’m fine. Stopping nagging, Old Woman!”

“Nagging!? You want nagging? I’ll give you nagging!” And she let loose on a five minute tirade on the stubbornness of teenagers and a certain teenager in particular who was behaving like a three-year-old. “You read your doctor’s instructions - don’t think I didn’t see you! - you know what you’re supposed to do!” She jabbed her finger at the couch. “At the very least sit!”

Ash sat. He crossed his arms and mumbled, “Sit? What does she think I am? A dog?”

“Right,” Phil raised his voice enough for everyone to hear. “Let’s make sure everyone is on the same page.” He waited until everyone had found a seat. Bruce, as was his habit, sat on the floor with his back against a wall. Clint and Natasha stood by the fireplace, one on either side, as if they were bookends. Tony and Steve sat in arm chairs next to each other and Jessica and Max sat on the couch on either side of Ash with Michael sitting next to his mother. Once everyone had settled, Phil cleared his throat and said, “Everyone, this is Aslan Callenrese who goes by Ash Lynx.” He gestured to Ash. “We all saw the news report about Club Cod and what the police believe happened there. Ash is the witness who’s going to testify against the owner and the clients and Max is the journalist who’s helping him.” He gestured to Max. “And next we have Max’s ex-wife, Jessica, and their son, Michael.”

Michael, a little cowed by the attention, snuggled into his mother’s side and closed his eyes when he shyly waved to the room.

Phil continued, “Our job is to protect them until Ash’s day in court. I’ll find out when that will be...”

“Three weeks,” Ash said as he absently reached over Max and grabbed one of Tony’s Rubix Cubes off an end table. Tony liked to play with them when he was thinking and had several laying around the common room. Ash turned the Rubix Cube over his hands, absently looking at all the mixed up colors before he started to twist the toy this way and that. “All the legal stuff’s going to start in three weeks. I gave a list of people to the cops to get the ball rolling and they’ve arrested a few people, but they’re trying to keep everything quiet so the other people don’t go into hiding before they can get arrested. So long as I report to the courthouse three weeks from today, it’s all good.”

Three weeks, Phil thought, was not much time. The case must be being rushed along. “Right. Three weeks, then. Our job is to protect them until the court date. On a more immediate note, we already have an attack to deal with.” The whole room seemed to come to attention as the Avenger’s focused their attention on Phil. “As you all know, Ash was attacked and hospitalized with a stab wound and...”

“No.” Ash interrupted. He put the Rubix Cube, solved, back on the side table. Phil stared. To solve it so quickly? Tony and Bruce, both of whom knew how hard it was to solve the Rubix Cube, exchanged a surprised look. Ash said, “You don’t do anything about that. I know who did it and why and it’s not your business. It’s got nothing to do with Club Cod.”

Phil blinked. “Someone tried to kill you. That stab was only inches from several important things inside you.”

“I know; I read my chart. It’s still none of your business.”

“You don’t think it’s important that you nearly died?”

“Not really. Look, just drop it. That guy had nothing to do with Club Cod or any of this court business. It was personal.”

It disturbed Phil more than a little to hear someone speaking so carelessly about their own life. “Even if you’re not concerned, a crime was committed and if there’s someone running around attacking people, then at the very least we need to talk to the police so they can find the suspect.”

Ash sighed and rubbed the back of his head with his hand. “Look, the guy who stabbed me was Lao Yuen-Tai. And like I said, it was personal and it’s done. He’s not going to do it a second time. I shot and killed him before I got to the library. That kid who hit me at the hospital? Lao was his brother and he hit me because I killed his brother. It’s done so drop it.”

“You admit you killed someone?” Steve sat forward and his voice raised in disbelief.

“Duh. He tried to kill me.” Ash crossed his ankles and stretched his legs out in front of him. “Let’s save some time and questions since I don’t want to repeat this a million times. My name is Ash and I’m eighteen-years-old. When I was eleven,” Ash stopped abruptly. He looked at Max, then shot a quick glance at Michael.

“Right, right.” Max stood up and took Michael’s hand. “Let’s go for a walk, Michael. You’ve never seen the city from this high up.” He took Michael to the far side of the room and held Michael so he could look out the large windows.

When Ash spoke, again, his voice was soft enough that Michael wouldn’t be able to hear him. “When I was eleven, I was homeless and alone on the streets. I got caught by a guy who sold me to the owner of Club Cod. He made me a prostitute and put me in kiddie porn. When I was thirteen, the owner decided he liked me and he took me out of Club Cod to stay with him as his sex toy. I got away from him when I was seventeen. Last week, I got free. ”

The whole room was quiet but for the sound of Michael talking to his father.

“And now you’re going to bring them to justice,” Steve said with real admiration in his voice. “That’s very brave. You should be proud of yourself for being able to face all that when you’ve gotten away.”

Ash rolled his eyes. His hand drifted down to his side where he’d been stabbed. “It’s not brave. I want those creeps to be hurt and I want them scared. I want them to know what it feels like to be small and weak. I want to know that none of them will ever hurt another kid. I’ve got eidetic memory so I remember everyone I ever saw there, I remember all their names and faces. I remember who did what to me and some of the other kids told me what happened to them and who did it. It’s no trouble at all to give that to the cops.”

“Then,” Tony spoke up. “Dino Golzine was a client of Club Cod, wasn’t he? That’s why you were at that party.” He looked around at the confused faces of his friends and he took a minute to tell everyone what he remembered of meeting Ash. “You’d been sent there as a... umm...”

“I was there because Dino wanted access to your money and if you’d put a hand on me, he’d either know that you shared his taste in boys and he’d be able to manipulate you using that or he’d have blackmail to use against you if you didn’t want to cooperate. And Dino wasn’t a client of Club Cod - he owned the damned place.”

Tony’s eyes went wide. “Owned? But... good God, how did he get away with it? He’s known to be respectable and he was always giving money to charities.”

“Yeah. He lied a lot.”

The conversation was interrupted when Jessica’s phone started ringing. She answered it with, “Hello? Ah!” Her eyes lit up with joy. “Shunichi!” And then she effortlessly switched from English to Japanese and continued talking. Phil didn’t understand Japanese well enough to know what she was saying, but she looked very happy as she spoke. 

Ash sat up from his slump at once and said, “Is that Ibe-san? I wanna talk to him.” He held out his hand for the phone, but Jessica twisted out of his reach. “Come on,” Ash said. “Let me talk to Ibe-san.”

Jessica ignored him, gleefully.

Michael said, “Can I please talk to Uncle Shu, mommy?”

“Of course, darling.” She handed the phone to Michael without hesitation. Ash looked completely offended and sulked.

Michael spoke for a few minutes then held the phone out to Max. “Daddy, Uncle Shu wants to talk to you.” The minute he gave the phone to Max, Michael stood up and went to stand in front of Ash. He put his hands on Ash’s knees and said, with utmost gravity, “You gotta use manners and say ‘please’ if you want something. It’s a rule.”

Ash groaned but said, “Right. Okay. I’ll remember.”

When Max finally took pity on Ash and gave him the phone, Ash snatched it up, eagerly. “Ibe-san?” The voice he used with whoever was on the phone held the utmost respect. “Yeah, I’m alright. Aw, Max gets worried about every little thing. It wasn’t that bad. I’m out of the hospital and everything. You make it back to Japan alright?” He waited while, presumably, the other person answered. “That’s good. I’m glad. So...ah... how’s Eiji? He didn’t look so good when I saw him at the hospital.” Another pause. “Yeah? You’re sure he’s gonna be alright?”

Phil was shocked to see the softest look spread over Ash’s face, as if all the hard edges were suddenly smoothed away - like a stone polished by the water of a swiftly flowing river.

It only lasted a moment as Ash suddenly looked around at everyone watching him and the stony shield raised right back up. “Thank you. Yes. Bye.” He hung up the phone and gave it back to Jessica. “Eiji’s alright,” he told Max and Jessica. “Ibe-san said he’s doing real good and-” Ash winced in pain and he pressed a hand against his wound. He swore, softly.

That was enough for Jessica. “Alright, that’s enough chit-chat for today. Max, put Brat to bed!” Despite her less than friendly words, Jessica gently ran her fingers through Ash’s hair and said to him, “It’s alright. You just need to rest.”

Max added, “Kid, you’ve got to learn when to ask for help. If those stitches pop, you’ll do yourself no favors. I think you should reconsider the pain medicine. I can get you something over the counter, you know. Doesn’t have to be morphine.” He stood up and put an arm around Ash to help him to his feet. “Someone show me to where he can sleep?”

“I will.” Bruce gracefully stood up from where he’d been sitting on the floor. He led Max, Ash, and Michael out and soon the door closed behind all of them.

Jessica didn’t immediately follow, but instead she fixed a scathing look on Tony. “You are very, very luck that you only played Tetris that night!” She whirled around, her long hair flying as she did, and she strutted out of the room.

“And Mamma Bear,” Clint whispered, gleefully. “Has left the room.”

Yut-Lung-

At the hospital, Yut-Lung had taken one last look at Ash before he hurried after Sing. Ash had been hurt and that disturbed Yut-Lung. He knew, of course, that Ash wasn’t infallible. He was human, after all. Yut-Lung been there when Blanca had knocked Ash right on his backside, defeated him in a fight with just three blows, and the legendary Ash Lynx had been left on a heap on the floor in a musty warehouse. To see him in a wheelchair as he was pushed out of a hospital had been jarring. He didn’t like seeing Ash in such a condition and didn’t really understand why it bothered him so much.

Sing ignored the fact that they had driven the car to the hospital and walked. Out of the parking lot and down the sidewalk, he walked with his hands in tight fists swinging furiously at his sides. He didn’t speak, didn’t even look at anyone. Yut-Lung followed him. He really hadn’t had any idea what else to do, but leaving Sing to wander the city streets had seemed wrong, even though Sing unquestioningly knew the streets and was safer there than Yut-Lung ever could be. Still, he followed. Sing walked slowly and, at one point, he stopped and put his hands up to his face. His shoulders started to shake.

‘What am I supposed to do?’ Yut-Lung stopped walking when Sing did. He thought that maybe it would be appropriate to reach out and put a hand on Sing’s shoulder as a show of comfort, but he wasn’t really sure so he did nothing. ‘I don’t know what to do.’ He’d never had to give comfort. After just a moment, Sing straightened his back and kept walking.

Sing didn’t acknowledge that he was being followed, but Yut-Lung would have been shocked if Sing thought he was alone. It wasn’t just Yut-Lung, but also several bodyguards as well as Fan who walked barely a pace behind Yut-Lung. There was no trouble at all until, at some point, Sing turned a corner and before Yut-Lung could catch up with him, a passing man unexpectedly reached out and grabbed hold of his arm.

“Hey, there, gorgeous. Why don’t you spend time with me? Pretty lady shouldn’t be out alone.”

It almost would have been better if he’d been drunk. Yut-Lung could have excused the rudeness as an effect of alcohol, but the man appeared entirely sober. Yut-Lung pulled at his arm, but the man didn’t let go. Yut-Lung’s eyes narrowed. “Fan!”

Instantly, Fan seized the stranger’s wrist and gave a practiced twist and immediately, Yut-Lung was released. He quickly hurried after Sing and gave no thought at all to the pained cry he left behind him or the heavy thump. Without doubt, Fan had dealt with the situation and Yut-Lung wouldn’t be troubled by that one, again. He didn’t need some stranger to tell him he was attractive; he knew very well that he was pretty. He was reminded often enough. Wang-Lung let him know often enough when he sent Yut-Lung out to work and Hua-Lung let him know when he ran his fingers through Yut-Lung’s hair or slipped his hand under Yut-Lung’s shirt. Yut-Lung dragged his thoughts away from his brothers and focused on getting back to Sing.

“Did he hurt you, sir?”

Yut-Lung shook his head at Fan’s question. “No. As soon as we get back to the house, find something to make Sing feel better,” he told Fan. “What makes people feel better when their brothers die?” He’d been very relieved when his brothers had died, but he supposed Sing might have liked his.

With those vague orders - and Yut-Lung knew they were vague - Fan merely nodded, “Yes, sir.”

They went all the way back to the Lee Mansion and, still, Sing said nothing. He went inside and kicked off his shoes but stood in the front hall for quite a while before he stomped through the house and went to the the liquor cabinet in the parlor. He got the big bottle of Wang-Lung’s whiskey and poured himself a tumbler full. Twenty minutes later, after a bout of tears, Sing lay down on the sofa and fell asleep. He’d only managed to make it through half a glass of the whiskey.

The Lee Mansion was huge and filled with respectful servants. It had belonged to Yut-Lung’s elder brother Hua-Lung, but as far as all were concerned, Yut-Lung was master of the house as well as the head of the Lee family. He had arranged for the deaths of his elder brothers, all but Hua-Lung and he only lived because he was useful. If any of the servants suspected why five of the six elder Lee brothers and their families had suddenly been brutally murdered, if they wondered what had happened to Hua-Lung to change him from an intelligent, ambitious man to a drooling vegetable, they were all bright enough not to comment on it in Yut-Lung’s hearing.

“Here, sir.” Fan handed a slip of paper to Yut-Lung and a cell phone.

“A phone number?” Yut-Lung asked after he looked at the paper. “What is this?”

“Mister Blanca’s phone number. He left it before he went off to help Ash wage war. You did ask me to find something to make Master Sing feel better. I believe he is quite fond of Mister Blanca.”

“Very good. Go check on Hua-Lung. Make sure he’s alright.” 

Hua-Lung was still in the state Yut-Lung had left him in after poisoning him with the Banana Fish drug. Yut-Lung knew that, because he knew there was no recovering from Banana Fish. The thought of what he’d done to Hua-Lung didn’t make Yut-Lung feel badly at all. He didn’t feel even an ounce of guilt for what he’d done to any of his brothers.

“They deserved it,” he told himself. “All of them... monsters. They deserved to die. And Hua-Lung...” Hua-Lung had been just as much of a monster as any of the others. He’d liked to touch and leer and to have him stuck as a harmless puppet was immensely satisfying. 

Yut-Lung didn’t feel guilty often. There was one person, however...

Flashback-

Shorter Wong, enraged at being forced to chose between saving his friends and saving his sister, roughly pushed Yut-Lung backwards, onto the bed, then sunk his long knife into the mattress just inches from Yut-Lung’s head. His voice, when he spoke, was rough and hard with emotion.

“...I never doubted you.” Shorter’s tears, little pin-pricks of heat, landed on Yut-Lung’s face. “But now... not anymore. You’re the same as Golzine and his guys. You’re maggots sucking the living blood out of others.”

Shorter left. He’d left his knife where he’d put it, in the mattress, though whether he’d left it because his high emotions had made him careless or as a symbol of how he recognized he was powerless in the situation, Yut-Lung didn’t know. He lay on that bed for a moment after Shorter had left and his gut churned with guilt for what was to happen. He would use Shorter to take Eiji to Dino Golzine. There was no going back, it would happen. 

End Flashback-

Yut-Lung didn’t like that he felt the guilt, he’d been under orders, after all. Wang-Lung had ordered him to do exactly what he’d done and if he had disobeyed or failed, Wang-Lung would have....

No. No point in making excuses. He had brought Shorter and Eiji as bait to New York and lured Ash back to Golzine. He had done exactly what Wang-Lung had ordered him to. And he still felt guilt. He hadn’t wanted Shorter to end up as he had - raving with madness and put down like a rabid animal. Shorter had been too good for that. Yut-Lung had known him only a few hours and even he had seen the goodness in Shorter. So he allowed himself to feel guilty for what had happened to Shorter and he let that guilt fester and twist like a snake in his mind because he deserved the misery for Shorter’s death. He entirely deserved it.

The half a tumbler of whiskey Sing had abandoned before passing out sat on the end table next to the sofa. Yut-Lung took the tumbler and drank the rest of the whiskey in one big gulp and he felt it burn on the way down. It didn’t help. It never did.

Yut-Lung pushed the uneasy thoughts away and went to the pair of double doors that led from the parlor to the back garden and stepped outside. The entire estate was enclosed by a high stone wall, so even when he walked out into the perfectly manicured garden, tended by several well-paid gardeners, he couldn’t see anything of the city unless he looked up to see the tops of the buildings over the wall. The wall, however, couldn’t disguise the sound of traffic just beyond. It really was a perfect garden, meticulously maintained. There wasn’t a single blade of grass out of place. A koi pond sat in the far right corner of the garden, adding a bit of sparkle when the sunlight hit the water in just the right way. He ignored it all and punched in the numbers on the phone for Blanca. He, too, would like to speak with Blanca, though he wasn’t entirely certain what he would say.

The phone rang and rang. It rang so long that Yut-Lung grew impatient and began to pace the length of the garden. Every time he came near the double-doors leading into the parlor, he would pause to check in on his littlest underling to make sure he was still asleep. Sing hadn’t moved, but he had started to snore.

“Answer, damn you.” Yut-Lung muttered as he paced the garden with the cell phone pressed against his ear. There was no answer. At one point he came to the end of the garden and spun around too quickly to walk the other way which had made his long ponytail fly over his shoulder. He huffed with irritation and tossed it back over his shoulder. Long hair was such trouble. It had to be tidied and brushed and it got knots in it.“Come on, Blanca! Answer!” He practically whined at his phone, as if that might do some good. “What do I know about taking care of children?”

Because Sing was a child. He was fourteen and a fourteen-year-old was a child. Which meant Yut-Lung probably should have made some effort to stop Sing from getting drunk, but as Yut-Lung had started getting into his brother’s alcohol when he was nine-years-old, he really didn’t think he had any moral high ground to stand on if it came to a lecture. Besides, he was only sixteen-years-old, so he was fairly sure Sing wouldn’t listen to him.

“Sir,”

Yut-Lung turned and found Fan, as cool and in command as always, standing behind him with hands folded. “What is it?”

“I just check on Hua-Lung and your brother is as well as can be expected. He has been fed and changed and his nurse is reading to him. You also have a visitor. I’ve left him in the living room.”

Yut-Lung gave Fan an exasperated look. “A visitor? I don’t have time for a visitor.” He gestured to Sing. “I have to deal with... with that! Send him away. I’m busy.” He glanced, again, into the study where Sing still slept. How could he be expected to deal with anything when his favorite underling was in such a condition?

“Your visitor is very insistent, sir. He seems troubled, but unsure if this matter is important or not. If Master Sing weren’t in such a delicate condition, I think he would consider this matter important enough to at least hear the man out. If it helps, sir, I believe Master Sing won’t wake for a little while.” Fan stopped talking and waited for Yut-Lung to make up his mind. It really wasn’t fair. Fan knew well enough that Yut-Lung highly valued Sing’s advice - mainly because once Yut-Lung’s brother had died and he found himself being in charge of multiple Chinatowns across America as well as most of the underworld in China and other territories across the planet with all the wealth, power, and responsibilities that came with those things he discovered that he didn’t have the foggiest idea what he was suppose to do with any of it. Sing had offered to help and in only a couple of days that help had made a great deal of positive difference. In the end, Yut-Lung sighed heavily and hung up the phone. “Fine! Who is this bothersome visitor?”

Fan motioned for Yut-Lung to follow him. They went through the parlor and into the hall before Fan spoke. “Mister Feng Gao. He has been a resident of your neighborhood for sixty-two years and had never caused trouble for the Lee family. He started a barbershop which his nephew now runs and, from my assessment, he appears to be nervous. He has not come to the mansion before.”

“Right. Right.” He handed the cell phone to Fan. “I don’t want him to stay long, so don’t offer anything to eat or drink. Let him sit there for a while and be bored. I’m going to change my clothes.”

“Sir, is this an attempt to annoy the visitor because he disturbed you?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

After trying on three outfits, he settled on a suit. He admired his reflection in the floor-length mirror in his room and smiled. When Wang-Lung had been alive and controlled the Lee family, Yut-Lung hadn’t been allowed to wear such things as it suited Wang-Lung to have everyone see Yut-Lung in a certain way. Hua-Lung preferred Yut-Lung to wear certain clothing styles, too. Both of them had insisted that Yut-Lung have long hair. So he tied his hair back and pretended it was short and liked the suit because it would have made his brothers unhappy. At last satisfied, Yut-Lung made his way to the living room where he found Fan dutifully trying to make idle conversation with an elderly man. The man was very ordinary to look at - white hair and average build - and he wrung his hands and frowned at his feet until Yut-Lung walked in and sat gracefully in the armchair that had once belonged to Hua-Lung. He took great satisfaction in knowing that his brother would never sit in that chair, again. 

“Sir,” Fan said. “This is Mister Feng Gao. He has something he thinks you might like to know about.” Then Fan stepped away and motioned for Mister Feng to sit in a chair opposite of Yut-Lung.

Mister Feng gave Yut-Lung a nervous little bow even as he sat. His voice, when he spoke, was deep and strong. “Forgive me for disturbing you, Mister Lee.”

Yut-Lung winced at the mention of his family name, but said nothing. It was a truth he couldn’t deny that he belonged to that family and how else were people to address him? At least Fan called him ‘sir’ and Blanca had simply called him by name.

Mister Feng didn’t see Yut-Lung’s reaction and continued. “I don’t know if this is anything to worry about and it may be completely innocent, but I thought it best to make you aware. Forgive me if I’m being insolence.” 

Yut-Lung didn’t realize until that very moment that Mister Feng was afraid of him. He didn’t like that much.

“I take a walk every day in Central Park. For my health. My path meanders quite a bit and takes me this way and that. I saw, by a small pond, a man I recognize dropping off a plastic bag that held something heavy. He was a police officer. He isn’t a good man. He went to eat at a local restaurant and didn’t pay. He is Detective Evanstine. I saw him put the plastic bag under a bush near the pond and then leave. I was watching the ducks on the pond, so I stayed for a bit. Then another man came and he took the bag. He looked in it and I saw there was a metal suitcase. He put it back in the bag, then left. I think I know the man who took the plastic bag. I saw his photograph in the newspaper.” Mister Feng pulled a newspaper clipping out of his jacket pocket and held it out to Yut-Lung. There, in an article about how he’d won his case about tax evasion, was a photograph of Dino Golzine and, just behind him, the bodyguard, Gregory. Mister Feng pointed to Gregory. “That was the man, I’m sure of it. I know it didn’t happen in Chinatown, but I thought it seemed so odd that it might be important. Forgive me if I’m wrong.”

Gregory. When Yut-Lung had dealt with Golzine, he’d seen Gregory, always trailing in his master’s shadow, but had never spoken with him. Gregory was very plain, in Yut-Lung’s opinion. A completely unremarkable peon who’d been loyal to Golzine, but was otherwise uninteresting. The mere fact that he was Dino Golzine’s man made Yut-Lung predisposed to dislike him as he was sick to tears of dealing with Golzine. The only good things to come from being involved with that man had been meeting Sing and Blanca. 

“Thank you for the information,” Yut-Lung said, because information was always valuable. 

After seeing Mister Feng out, Fan returned and said, “What do you think, sir?”

“I think...” he was interrupted by a telephone ring and waited while Fan answered the cell phone Yut-Lung had earlier given him.

“Sir,” Fan smiled. “It’s Blanca.”

Yut-Lung leapt out of his chair and snatched the phone from Fan. “And what took you so long?!” He demanded of Blanca. “I was trying reach you for nearly thirty minutes!” They hadn’t parted well. “I thought you wouldn’t answer my call.”

The familiar sound of Blanca’s low chuckle was calming. “I wouldn’t ignore you, Mister Yut-Lung. I am currently a little busy and I only just noticed that you’d called. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

“I may.” Of course he would. Without hesitation. “What are you working on?”

“I’m hunting.”

“Hunting what?”

Blanca didn’t answer at once. Then, in a voice so amused that Yut-Lung could almost hear the smile in his voice, he said, “I am hunting Gregory Dufort. I don’t suppose you would have some information I might be able to use?”

“Now isn’t that interesting.” Yut-Lung strolled out of the room, heading back to where he’d left Sing. He heard footsteps as Fan followed him. “I just had someone come to me and tell me they’d seen Gregory Dufort creeping about up to sneaky business.”

“Do tell, Mister Yut-Lung.”

So Yut-Lung did tell. He told everything Mister Feng had reported and, when he was done, he waited for Blanca’s reply. “So he’s having dealings with that police officer. I remember Detective Evanstine. He was on Golzine’s payroll for many years. Now what might he have given Gregory? I am curious. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, though I don’t know why I do you any favors. You left me.” He didn’t say that he missed Blanca. That would have been entirely too honest. He’d reached the parlor by then and saw Sing was still asleep. He stepped into the garden. “I didn’t know if you were even alive after that night.”

“I apologize for worrying you.”

“I didn’t say I was worried! I certainly wouldn’t worry about you. You left.” Yut-Lung sniffed and turned up his nose, though he knew there was no one in the garden to appreciate it. “It would serve you right if something awful did happen. You know you left me here alone to deal with Sing, don’t you? He’s drunk and snoring on my sofa and completely dead to the world. Sing’s big brother got himself killed and now Sing’s all upset. What am I supposed to do with him?”

“Yes. I had heard that Ash shot his brother. I expect our Sing isn’t his normal cheery self?”

“No. He sulked all the way home and then got himself drunk. Am I supposed to cheer him up? He was crying earlier and I don’t know what to do about crying. Do I have to hug him?”

“You don’t have to hug him. Just be kind.”

Yut-Lung frowned at the phone, bewildered about how to go about being kind. Just at that moment, Sing had begun to sit up and groggily put a hand to his head and winced. “Hold on, Sing’s woken up. I’m going to give him the phone. Yell at him for getting drunk.” He didn’t bother to wait for Blanca’s reply, but instead stomped over to Sing and shoved the phone at him. “Here!”

Sing glared as well as he could glare, then weakly took the phone. “Hello?” 

Standing over Sing, Yut-Lung listened in on the conversation he could hear and regretted not putting it on speaker so he could hear everything that was said.

Sing said, “No.” “Yes.” “I don’t care.” And other short sentences. At one point he sniffed and rubbed a hand across his face. His eyes grew shiny and wet. “I know. I don’t hate him. Not really. I’m just... everything hurts.” After less than five minutes, he hung up the phone and tossed it to Yut-Lung, who fumbled to catch it. “Thanks for calling Blanca.”

“I didn’t call him for you.” That was a bold-faced lie. “I called him because I wanted to talk to him.” That was the truth. “There was some little incident I thought he should know about. Apparently one of Golzine’s dogs had a cop drop off a metal suitcase. I don’t know what...”

“A metal suitcase!?” Sing exclaimed. “You said a metal suitcase?”

“Yes. He was seen. A police officer dropped off a metal suitcase in a park and one of Golzine’s men picked it up. I can’t imagine what’s so important.”

Sing put both hands in his hair and tugged as he groaned. “Important? That thing has Banana Fish in it!”

Slowly, Yut-Lung shook his head. “No. No, it can’t. I used the last of it on Hua-Lung. That’s why he’s drooling on his shirt in the other room while his nurse feeds him.”

“Not the drug itself, but all the information about it. Instructions on how to make it.” Sing sat back down on the sofa, heavily. “Ash had it and during the fight with Foxx’s people at that building, Ash told me to drop it. It fell off the building and into the helicopter fire below. Ash said it had all the secrets of Banana Fish in it. We thought it had been destroyed.”

Shorter had been killed by Banana Fish. He remembered Shorter’s bright laugh at something that had been said. He’d only known Shorter for a few hours before he’d betrayed them, but in that short time, something had made Shorter laugh and Yut-Lung remembered that sound. He also remembered looking through the tiny window into Golzine’s execution room, a literal dungeon below his mansion, and watching as Shorter, poisoned with the Banana Fish drug, had screamed with terror and pain and fury, his mind broken... ruined. And he had done it. He had given Shorter to Golzine, delivered him so neatly along with Eiji.

He felt it, again - a stab of guilt.

Sing rubbed his eyes and his temples. “I can’t stay. I need to talk to Ash. I need... God! My head feels so weird. I think I need...” His words faded away and his face turned an unflattering shade of green. “Ug. Bathroom?”

There was a narrowly avoided mess before Yut-Lung helped Sing out of the bathroom and back to the parlor. Sing sat on the sofa with very little urging and looked up at Yut-Lung, standing over him with his fists on his hips, scowling. Sing smiled. “Thanks for being nice to me. You’re so nice.”

Yut-Lung rolled his eyes. “Clearly, you’re still drunk.” He took a glass of water Fan had gotten, without being asked, and gave it to Sing. “Here. Drink. It will help, in my vast experience.”

Sing drank and, when the glass was empty, he held it in both hands and muttered, “Thanks. Sorry about all this.” He started to stand, but swayed and Yut-Lung caught him by the arm. 

“Sit down! You’re not going anywhere. You’ll get yourself hit by a car or something.” He waited until Sing had done as he was told. “You aren’t making any sense, so go back to sleep.”

“Gotta talk to Ash,” Sing lay down and closed his eyes. “Important... suitcase...” And then he was snoring, again.

For a while, Yut-Lung stood there and watched to be sure Sing wouldn’t get up and try to leave in the state he was in. He crossed his arms over his chest. “There isn’t anymore Banana Fish. There’s nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.”

Again, Yut-Lung got an image of Shorter as he was in his last moments, stripped of his shirt and sunglasses, that terrible knife of his clenched in one hand and his eyes wide as the Banana Fish Golzine’s men had forcibly injected him with ruined his brain and filled it with hate and fear.

He never wanted to see such a sight again. If there was even the slightest chance that Sing’s ramblings about the metal suitcase were truth and not some whiskey dream, then it had to be taken seriously. Golzine had been an evil man without a hint of redemption, but he had controlled his people wonderfully. As Golzine was dead, there was no restraining his remaining men and Yut-Lung didn’t know what Gregory was capable of. If he had even the tiniest sample of Banana Fish then it was possible everyone was in danger.

The parlor door opened and one of the other servants walked in. “Sir,” he said to Yut-Lung. “There’s a phone call in the office for Hua-Lung.”

When he reached the office with Fan walking at his back, Yut-Lung pressed the button on the desk phone for it to be put on speaker. “Hello?”

Silence for a moment. “I need to speak with Mister Lee Hua-Lung. Put him on.” The voice was female and she spoke with a distinct accent that Yut-Lung didn’t recognize.

‘Rude,’ Yut-Lung thought. “He is indisposed at the moment. I am his representative and authorized to speak for him. What do you need?”

There was a put-upon sigh. “Just get him to the phone. I’ve done business in the past with Mister Lee Wang-Lung and, as I’ve heard of his recent death, I would like to speak with the current head of the Lee family.”

Fan reached over and pressed the ‘mute’ button on the phone. “Sir, I recognize that voice. That’s Thema Shehata.”

“Who?”

“She’s a councilwoman on the World Security Council. They control S.H.I.E.L.D., basically, and she’s telling the truth about doing business with Wang-Lung. When I worked for Wang-Lung I saw her several times. I have also heard that she was in bed with Dino Golzine.”

Yut-Lung wrinkled his nose at the idea. “Eww. I didn’t think he had any interest in that area.”

“Figuratively speaking, of course. Everyone knows his preference definitely wasn’t adult women.” Fan unmuted the phone.

“I am Lee Yut-Lung, the youngest brother of Lee Hua-Lung and I can speak for my elder brother. What did you want to talk to him about?”

Another pause. “I’ll call back later.” Then she hung up.

Yut-Lung frowned at the phone, then at Fan. “I don’t like mysteries.”

To be Continued...


	10. Shorter

Chapter 10: Shorter

Bruce followed when Max took Ash out of the common room, then stepped ahead of them to lead the way to where Ash would be staying. He tried to set his mind to the trouble with Ash and not about the fact that a soldier was following him. He didn’t think about how much bigger Max was than he was or that Max had been, according to Phil, a highly regarded soldier for years and would have likely become an officer if it hadn’t been for a tragic incident involving a friend. He certainly didn’t dwell at all upon the fact that no one had checked to see if their guests were armed because soldiers always had guns and shot at people. No. He didn’t think about that. He didn’t think about how, if Max had been so respected and well-liked, that he probably still had friends in the military that he talked to. He didn’t think about how he would probably tell those friends that he had met The Avengers. It would have been perfectly natural for Max to tell his friends that he was living in the Avenger’s Tower and then word would get back to General Ross or another one of those types who wanted to hurt Bruce and use Hulk...

Deep inside, Hulk stirred.

Like a bear coming out of hibernation, Hulk seemed to turn and stretch in Bruce’s mind. Hulk rumbled and growled, pushing at Bruce in order to find out what had disturbed them.

‘It’s alright,’ Bruce told Hulk, his inner voice whispering and calm. Bruce looked at the white walls, focusing his mind entirely on the clean, bright color. ‘Everything’s fine. Nothing to worry about, nothing to be scared of. We’re fine. We’re safe.’ 

Hulk settled back down.

The room they’d had set up for the witness was very plain - spartan. There was a twin-sized bed with a couple of blankets and a pillow. There was a bureau for clothes, a small table with a couple of chairs, and very little else. In Bruce’s opinion, it was quite a nice room. He had lived rough for long enough that he was always grateful to have a bed, let alone extras like a rug on the floor or a mirror, but he was aware that most people wouldn’t care much for such a room. Tony was generous enough that one he’d realized the witness wasn’t a criminal, but an innocent boy, then he would want to upgrade Ash’s accommodations and had probably already asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to start on it.

Bruce waited by the door of the little room while Max helped Ash to sit on the bed and Bruce had a moment to get a good look at Ash. He looked dreadful, pale and weak enough that he clung onto Max’s arm until he was seated and even for a moment after that. His face, though, was still without even a trace of pain. He had been in pain, Bruce had seen it back in the common room. When Ash had clutched at his wound, there had been great pain etched into his face. Somewhere between the common room and the bedroom, that pain had been hidden and Bruce felt a momentary understanding for Ash. What else was Bruce’s life but one huge mask?

“Don’t stare,” Ash met Bruce’s eyes. “You got a question?”

“I’d actually like to examine your wound to make sure you haven’t hurt yourself. If you don’t mind.” He put his hands in his pockets to stop himself from fidgeting. “I may not be a real medical doctor, but I should be able to tell if you’ve hurt yourself with all this moving around.”

“Good idea.” Max set Michael down on the bed next to Ash and said, “Keep Ash company, okay?”

Michael held Ash’s hand and said, “Don’t be afraid.”

It was all incredibly heart-warming and didn’t do anything to stop Bruce from being afraid to get too close to Max. That fear was starting to trouble Hulk, though, so it would be a problem in a very few minutes if Bruce didn’t get a hold of himself.

Max said, “You want him here?” He jerked his thumb towards Bruce. “He can leave, if you want.”

But Ash shrugged. “Not like it’s a secret.” He pulled up the hem of his sweatshirt and let Max get a look. The bandage covering the stitches was still clean and white, not even a spot of blood.

“There’s no bleeding so I think you’re in the clear. I don’t want to disturb the bandage for a little while, so I won’t pull it up unless it’s really bothering you.” Max smiled at Ash, “You’re one lucky kid!”

“Any other injuries I should know about? At the hospital, your doctor said something about a bullet and another wound on your shoulder?”

Ash yanked the collar of his shirt down enough for Bruce to see a healed, but still pink, slice on his right shoulder. He pulled down the other side of his shirt to show another bandaged wound on his left shoulder. He went on to show off a long, pink slice on his left side, just over his ribs. There were other wounds, old scars, bruises. None of it was really a surprise - Bruce had spoken to Ash’s doctor with Max, after all - but it was shocking to actually see so many injuries, new and old.

Ash put his shirt back where it belonged. “Max, I need to call Alex and let him know what’s going on. I think I left my phone in the other room. Can you go find it?”

“Sure.” Max stood up and took Michael with him, though Michael complained he wanted to stay with Ash. Max convinced Michael he needed help looking for the phone and as Michael was an expert at hide-and-seek, he was the perfect person to help.

Bruce watched until the door closed behind them and then stared at the door for a few seconds longer just to make sure Max was gone. By the time he was sure Max wasn’t going to come right back into the room he felt himself relax and he turned to look at Ash who looked like he might laugh.

“Relax.” Ash shook his head a little. “Max looks like a wolf, but he acts like a golden retriever. He’s mostly harmless.”

Self consciously, Bruce looked down at his feet and tried to laugh it off. “I don’t get on with soldiers very well.”

Ash gave a careless shrug. “I’m sure Max has dealt with worse that your staring. Say, I wanted to talk to you. I’ve got a question. I read your credentials a while ago. You’re a doctor of all kind of stuff, right? You know about chemistry and biology?”

“I do.” Bruce couldn’t help but be a little flattered that Ash, who had led such a life that he surely had much more urgent worries than learning about an obscure failed scientist, actually knew about him. Most people knew about Hulk, but that was all.

“Do you know anything about the long-term effects of mind-altering pharmaceuticals introduced into the brain?”

Bruce blinked, momentarily speechless. “Ah, it’s not my speciality, but I know a little. Do you have a specific question?”

“Yeah. Say there’s this guy and he takes a drug that really messes with his head, makes him think all kinds of crazy things and maybe, for instance, brainwashes him into doing anything another person tells him to do and then just gives him nightmares so bad that he ends up killing himself. Now, can a drug like that wear off?” Ash looked small, all of a sudden. It was only for a moment, and it was probably just Bruce’s imagination, but Ash seemed small and hurt. Even his voice got small. “Can that person ever get better?”

Bruce rubbed the back of his neck and thought back to a few classes and lectures, reviewed a few books in his head. “The effects of that drug sound very invasive. The human body is an amazing thing, the brain in particular. It can survive and recover from many kinds of trauma with the right treatment. However, everyone is different and drugs can affect different people in different ways. I’m sorry, but without knowing what the drug is, I can’t give you better information. If I knew what drug was or had a sample of it...”

“No.” Ash quickly shook his head. “No. Never mind. It’s not important. Forget it.”

When Bruce stood up to leave the room, Ash said, “Hey. About that drug... don’t tell Max I asked. It’ll just upset him.”

“Alright. If you want to tell me later, I’ll listen. Speaking of listening, if you need anything or if your wounds bother you, just tell J.A.R.V.I.S. and he’ll let me know. I’ll come straight away.” He hesitated at the door then turned back to Ash and asked something he’d been worrying about. “Will you tell me why you won’t take painkillers? Is it the needle? If you don’t like injections, I can get you pills.”

The look that settled on Ash’s face was hard. “You’re not gonna let up about that, are you?”

“You’ll sleep a lot easier if you’re not in pain and good sleep with help you heal. I won’t try to force you to take anything, but if you tell me why you don’t want it maybe I can help.”

Ash turned his face away from Bruce and looked at the wall. “Dino kept all the kids at Club Cod drugged up so everyone was controllable. Everyone got sleepy and kinda spacey after we were dosed. That way, no one ran away or put up a fuss. If it makes it any better, all those kids at Club Cod? They were probably so high they never even felt what happened when they were killed.”

It didn’t make anything better.

Ash continued, “Well, when Dino took me out of Club Cod, he decided he didn’t want me on anything that would spoil my health or my appearance, so he got me clean and that was Hell. Detoxing is a real misery. I don’t want to take any sort of drug that’s going to make me go through that, again. Besides, I don’t like feeling out of control. Bad things happen when... never mind. I don’t need that stuff.”

And something deep in Bruce focused on that. He knew exactly what it was like to hate feeling as if all control had been taken from him. The times when Hulk would be roused and push his way to the forefront of their mind and Bruce would be forced into a strange state of something like sleep, but not quite, had always been horribly disorienting. He never could quite remember what happened when he woke and it was always frightening to wake up somewhere completely unfamiliar, perhaps with destruction all around. Worse would be later, when he’d happen to see a newspaper or news report that told about what Hulk had done and Bruce couldn’t remember anything but a few flashes of emotion - pain, anger, fear... always fear.

“Once...” Bruce’s voice trailed off as his courage tried to slip away. But Ash was looking at him, watching and waiting. Ash who wouldn’t take painkillers for fear of what would happen when he was asleep, who was so used to pain that he knew very well how bad he could let it get. He was eighteen, he’d said. A man, by law, but really... just a kid. A kid with everything against him. How could he cower away when Ash had no choice but to be brave? So he swallowed hard and licked his lips before he started, again, “Once, I was with my friend. It was just after my little...er... accident. My friend had a secluded cabin far from anyone and I was scared so I went there. When I was there, some soldiers came along and they shot me with a powerful tranquilizer dart. Next thing I knew I was in some desert. It was very disturbing.”

Ash slowly nodded. “Your friend sold you out and called in the enemy.”

Bruce blinked. “Now, it wasn’t like that. She was a very good friend and she was trying to help. I know she was trying to help.”

“It always hurts when it’s someone you trust. At least I never trusted Dino. It’s worst when people who are supposed to take care of you and protect you are the ones to give you up to the bad guys.”

“She didn’t betray me. She thought she was helping.” Bruce wasn’t entirely convinced that Ash believed him. “What I’m trying to say is, I think I understand a little of your aversion to drugs. You have my word - so long as you’re under my care, I won’t let anyone give you any medication without your explicit consent and you will be told what the medication is and what sort of effect it might have on you. I promise.”

Ash regarded him for a time and Bruce knew he was being judged. He didn’t get the impression that Ash was afraid of him, but Ash’s face was studiously blank, a practiced ‘nothing’ of an expression. Finally, Ash gave a slow nod. “Okay. Fine, then. Anything else? I’m tired.”

“Of course, yes. You’ll need lots of rest.” Bruce hesitated, again, then added. “You’ll also need to eat. You need food to recover. I can find easy to digest things for you, but you do need to eat. If you have any favorites, we can get them for you.”

“I don’t need any special favors.”

“It’s no trouble at all. Just name anything you like. Just one thing that you’ll eat.”

Ash scowled. “You’re stubborn, ya know that?”

“So I’ve been told.”

“Fine. I like apples.”

Bruce nodded and stood up. “Right. I’ll go take care of that. Try to get some rest. There’s a bathroom just there,” he pointed to the only door in the room other than the door leading back to the hall. “Again, if you need anything, just ask J.A.R.V.I.S. and he can help or get a message to anyone in the tower.”

Ash nodded, but said nothing else as Bruce left the room. In the hall, he found Max sitting in a chair with Michael on his knee. Jessica had caught up with them and sat next to them. They all looked up as soon as Bruce stepped out of the room. 

“Well?” Jessica demanded. “How is he?”

“Healing and remarkably strong. So long as he takes care of himself, I think he’ll be fine.”

She got to her feet. “Excellent. Then he will take care of himself!” She said it with determination and walked briskly into Ash’s room, as if she could, by sheer will-power, make Ash take care of himself.

Bruce felt awkward standing in front of Max, but he knew he had to get used to having another soldier around if Hulk was to stay calm. So he tried to be polite. “So... did you find the phone?”

Michael said, “Ash told a fib. He doesn’t like lots of people all around so we waited out here.”

“Someday, he’ll learn it’s easier to just ask for what he wants.” Max seemed entirely unconcerned about the lie. “He wanted to talk to you privately, didn’t he?”

Bruce nodded.

“That’s what I guessed. Thanks for being worried about him.”

Bruce started to walk away when he heard Michael say, “I’m glad Ash is gonna be okay ‘Cause I love him a lot.” Then he paused and his voice turned sulky. “I’m gonna hate Eiji, though.”

“What for?” Max asked. “Eiji’s nice. You’ll like him.”

Michael shook his head. “I heard Ash when he read his letter. Eiji wants Ash to go to Japan to live and I don’t want Ash to go away. He’s my best friend.”

Max rubbed Michael’s back. “Aww, son. I know it’s hard, but Ash and Eiji are really close friends and if Ash gets to live with Eiji he’d be very, very happy. If Ash got to be with Eiji all the time, he’d be happier than if you gave him a whole bag of jelly beans. If he can be that happy, do you think you can let him go to Japan?”

Resting his head against his dad’s chest, Michael let out a long, pitiful sigh. “I guess so. But I’m still gonna hate Eiji.”

“We’ll see about that. I still think you’re gonna like him.”

Bruce discreetly left after he decided the conversation was none of his business.

Ash-

Jessica, Max, and Michael had all visited and advised Ash to get some sleep. After they’d left he did try, but he just couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t the pain, although that was bad, that kept him awake. He felt as if a thousand eyes were watching him.

“So,” Ash said, aloud. “Read any good books, lately, J.A.R.V.I.S.?” How the Hell was he supposed to sleep with an invisible person watching him all the time? If Stark was to be believed, then J.A.R.V.I.S. was a real person and could see and hear everything that went on in the Avenger’s Tower. That was just creepy.

“I appreciate many written works,” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. “Do you have something in particular in mind?”

“Yeah, how about 1984, Big Brother?”

J.A.R.V.I.S. didn’t answer for a minute and Ash reflected on the wisdom on needling the thing that held his life in it’s hands. So to speak. More importantly, it held his friend’s lives in it’s hands. “Are you concerned that I am watching too much, Mister Lynx?”

“I’m just making conversation.” Ash pulled the blanket off the bed and wrapped it around himself as he sat up on the bed. He was always cold. “Never mind. Look, I’m bored. I’m gonna go for a walk.”

“That is inadvisable. Concern for your health is the utmost concern for all at the moment and your injury is very serious. Even a simple fall may lead to further complications.”

All well and good, but Ash wasn’t going to get any sleep with the computer watching. It was probably recording, too. Ash’s eyes narrowed. Was it watching the others, too? Was it watching and recording Michael? “Say, are you really everywhere? Every little nook and cranny of this place?”

“‘This place’ is me, so it is accurate to say that I am all places, Mister Lynx. However, in regards to respecting the privacy of my residents, I tend to ignore bathrooms. However, due to that concession, there is a rule that no sharp implements or other things that may cause damage to my residents may be in the bathrooms. I must protect my people, even from themselves.”

“Right. Well, that’s good. Look, you don’t have to watch the kid, do you? He’s obviously harmless, so you leave him alone.”

“I will not harm anyone, Mister Lynx.”

“That’s not what I said. You don’t have to go recording what he does. Just leave him alone.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. seemed to think about it. “I have informed Sir of your request and he agrees that surveillance of the guests is not necessary so I shall not monitor the private rooms of the guests, though I will continue to monitor common areas. You must also be monitored for the sake of your health. I need to be able to alert people if your injuries worsen.”

Ash nodded. “I can compromise. That’ll work.” He lay back down and covered up with the blanket. It was tempting to go sleep on the bathroom floor, but he had the suspicion that J.A.R.V.I.S. would disapprove and tell someone. Besides, it wasn’t as if J.A.R.V.I.S. could actually touch him. He covered himself entirely with the blanket and worked to focus his mind on the good things in life to prevent nightmares. Eiji. Bagels. Michael proudly giving his ‘Little Engine that Could’ book to Ash, Jessica laughing, Max singing, Ibe-san smiling. Eiji. Always Eiji. No matter what thoughts or images he filled his head with, he couldn’t push away the lingering worry that there was someone in the room.

Time ticked on. The room was dark and perfectly silent. By all rights, it should have been peaceful enough for anyone to sleep in. Ash stared at the darkness.

The sound of gentle ocean waves filled the room.

“The Hell?” Ash turned his head this way and that. “What’s that?”

“Relaxation soundtrack Sea Music. It is designed to assist in relaxation. You appeared to be having trouble sleeping and I was attempting to help.”

And that only reinforced the idea that he was being watched in the darkness which meant Ash wasn’t getting any sleep anytime soon. “Right. Right. Turn on the lights.” He blinked his eyes for a minute when J.A.R.V.I.S. did as Ash said. “Thanks, but it’s not going to work.”

“You need sleep.”

“Yeah, everyone’s already told me that. It’s still not going to happen. So, are you really all that great of a computer program?”

“I have been programmed to be able to handle any task Sir requires of me and I have the capabilities to access nearly any computer on the planet.”

“Yeah? So, if you’re so great, then tell me - what’s the answer to life, the universe, and everything?”

“42. But now you have to ask the actual question.”

Impressed, Ash put his hands behind his head and settled in for a good conversation. “You ARE good.”

Bruce-

By the time Bruce returned to the common room, he had calmed Hulk down enough that he wasn’t terribly worried about an incident. He didn’t like strangers in the tower. The other Avengers knew him well - they were all practically family, if Bruce could be so bold to think such a thing - and they made the effort to be calm around him. Strangers wouldn’t, he was sure. Jessica seemed loud and vibrant and Max had been a soldier - not people he would think of as peaceful. Having their little boy around was another problem because, though Michael was sweet and softly spoken, he was a child and Bruce couldn’t help but worry that if Hulk did make an appearance, Michael wouldn’t stand a chance. But it wasn’t his call to make and so he fought extra hard to keep himself in a stable frame of mind.

After an hour or so of everyone peacefully getting to know one another, Max stood up from where he’d been sitting on the sofa and said, “I’m going to get a gun for Ash.”

Jessica didn’t question him and Michael just waved good-bye from the kitchen where he was eating with Jessica. 

“Are you sure it’s necessary?” Phil asked. “I can honestly promise you, Ash couldn’t possibly be anywhere safer than right here. He really doesn’t need it.”

Max pulled on his coat. “You’ve got to understand - Ash is in a war. He’s been in it most of his life and I wouldn’t ask him to go to war without a way to defend himself. If it makes you feel better, he was telling the truth earlier - he does have a permit. Golzine got it for him.”

Clint frowned. “What? Am I missing something? Golzine’s the one who kept him prisoner, right? He owns Club Cod? Why would he get Ash a gun permit?”

“Oh, that’s nothing.” Jessica used her thumb to wipe a bit of food off Michael’s cheek which made him giggle. “That monster got him a gun permit, a gun, bullets to go in the gun, and a world-class gun instructor to teach him how to use it.”

There was silence all around while Phil said, “I’m afraid I don’t see the sense in Golzine doing all that. It seems kind of obvious that Ash would go after him, considering what Golzine did to him.”

“That’s because you’re sensible,” Jessica said. “Golzine also gave Ash some kind of expensive sports car for his sixteenth birthday.”

Steve looked around at everyone. “I’m lost. Wasn’t Ash kept a prisoner for...well... you know.”

“He was.” Max said even as he took out his wallet and counted out some cash. “But Golzine was weird like that. He kept Ash a slave, but liked to pamper him like a pet. Don’t ask me, I don’t get it, either. The man was twisted in the head.”

Max turned to leave, but stopped when J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “Excuse the interruption, but there is a visitor who has come to speak with Ash.”

“He’s asleep,” Jessica said, sternly. “His visitor can come back later.” Then she beamed at Michael. “All done, darling. And you even ate your broccoli. Very good! Let’s wash your hands and then it’s naptime.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “Ash is not asleep, Ms. Randy. We have discussed literature as well as the current political climate in Peru. Currently, we are playing a game of Go.”

“Go?” Steve said.

“Yes.” J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded remarkably amused. “It’s a strategy game, much like chess, though he said chess is too easy. He is winning at the moment, but I may yet beat him.”

Tony looked aghast. “You can’t be beaten at a logic game by a human!”

“Apparently, that assumption may be incorrect. Fear not, I have not given up, yet.”

Bruce buried his hands in his pockets and frowned at his feet. Ash needed to sleep. With that injury and the operation, he should have been exhausted. If he was fighting sleep and if, as Bruce suspected, Ash wasn’t eating properly, then he wouldn’t be able to heal well. He didn’t have any proof that Ash wasn’t eating, but Ash had refused food on the way from the hospital to the tower even when his stomach had clearly been screaming for food. When Ash had been laying in his hospital bed, Bruce had been able to clearly see Ash’s clavicles and when he’d just looked at Ash’s wounds with Max, he couldn’t help but notice that he could see Ash’s ribs. He’d seen worse. Most people might not notice, but little alarm bells inside Bruce’s head were telling him to keep an eye on the issue.

Max looked up at the ceiling, as if he could see J.A.R.V.I.S. that way, and said, “Is he laying down?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good.” Max nodded. “He’s resting, at least. He won’t sleep.”

“He needs to.” Bruce said, firmly. He didn’t raise his voice at all, but everyone turned to look at him and he fought not to just walk out of the room. He hated being stared at. “He has to sleep. If he needs something to help him sleep...”

“It’s not that,” Jessica said. “He doesn’t like sleeping around people. It’s alright if he trusts you, but this whole situation,” she waved a hand around at the Avengers. “No offense, but he’s only known you all for about an hour. He’s not going to sleep here.”

“Sure he will,” Max said. “You said you’re getting a room set up for us?” He said that to Tony. When Tony nodded, Max said, “Well, as soon as it’s ready, we’ll just move Ash in with us. He’ll sleep, then. Until then, just let him rest quietly. Who’s the visitor, anyway?”

“He told the receptionist, “Tell Ash Charlie needs to talk to him.” and has identified himself as Detective Charles Dickinson. Do you want to see him?”

Max said, “I’ll talk to him on my way out and tell him that Ash isn’t up for visitors, yet. But,” he went on even as he walked out of the room. “Everyone should get ready for more cops coming around. They’ll have questions and interviews and such until Ash is recovered enough to go down to the station.”

Jessica finished helping Michael to clean up from his snack then had him lay down on the sofa. He was asleep almost at once.

Max was only gone for ten minutes before he returned with someone Bruce hadn’t met before. The man was tall and lanky with red curls. He was quite young, surely no more than twenty-five or so and carried a briefcase. He gave polite nods to everyone and shook Jessica’s hand. Max introduced him as Charlie.

“I’m sorry to disturb everyone like this,” Charlie said. “It’s... ah... rather important. I need to talk to Ash.”

Jessica put a hand on her hip. “It can’t be so important you have to disturb his rest. He won’t get well if he gets too stressed, you know.”

“It’s alright,” Max said. “He DOES need to talk to Ash.” Max was pale and his shoulders slumped. He looked as if he were both angry and sad.

When Max left the room to get Ash, Phil stepped forward and started to make small talk with Charlie and Bruce was relieved. He appreciated that Phil took control of the situation because he was starting to feel a little overwhelmed and just wanted to walk away. It was bad enough that Max and his family had come along with Ash to be sheltered in the Tower, but now there was another stranger and Bruce could felt Hulk starting to feel antsy with all the new people in his territory and that, added to Bruce’s aversion to strangers, was starting to make Bruce feel extremely uncomfortable.

“Hey,” Tony slipped over to Bruce’s side. “You okay? The both of you?”

“Too many people.” Bruce turned away from what suddenly felt like an extremely crowded common room and looked out at the city. His eyes went straight to the green of Central Park and he tried to concentrate on it. He could still hear Charlie’s voice.

“You want me to send him away?” Tony offered, keeping his voice quiet. He wasn’t always loud and bombastic and had learned, over time, that sometimes Bruce and Hulk just needed quiet. “I can have them meet in one of the conference rooms downstairs. No one would mind.”

It was tempting. So very tempting. “Ash shouldn’t go that far. He shouldn’t even get out of bed.” He tapped his fingers against his leg, then wrung his hands. “I’ll go. I’ll tell Ash to talk with the detective in his room so he doesn’t have to get up.” It was also a very good excuse for Bruce to get away into the blessedly lonely halls for a moment. Before he could even take more than three steps to the door, Max and Ash walked in.

Still in the sweat suit Jessica had given him at the hospital, Ash acted as if he were perfectly fine. There wasn’t the slightest bit of weakness in his walk and the only outward sign of his injury was his pallor. He gave Charlie a little smile. “What’s up?”

“First come and sit down,” Bruce said. He did not like that Ash was walking around. He needed at least a few days of bed rest, even if he thought he was too tough to worry about it. Bruce hurried to the kitchen table and pulled out a chair for Ash. “Please?”

Ash raised an eyebrow, but didn’t argue. He sat and Jessica and Max immediately went to stand on either side of him.

Charlie let out a self-conscious laugh. “Come on, you two.” He said to Jessica and Max. “You know me - I’m not the enemy. I’m on his side, too.” Charlie set his leather briefcase on the table and opened it up then took out a manila envelope from it. He hesitated and looked around. “Could we have a little privacy?”

Tony looked like he wanted to argue about being told what to do in his own home, but Steve gave that big, reassuring smile of his and said, “Of course. Call if you need anything, we’ll be in the other room.” And he led everyone into the living room. The living room and the kitchen were connected, but the space was big enough that if everyone went to the far side of the room, no one could really hear what Charlie was saying.

It took a little convincing for Max to get Jessica to leave Ash. He took her hand and whispered just loudly enough for Bruce to hear, “Charlie’s not gonna do anything to him and Ash won’t want an audience. Not for this. Charlie told me on the way up here.” He held her hand and they went to stand next to the window. Both of them looked over to check on Michael, still napping on the sofa.

Bruce looked back at Ash in time to see Ash shake his head. Charlie said something and took a paper out of the manila envelope. He handed it to Ash and waited, patiently, while Ash stared at it. Ash shook his head. Charlie said something else, his expression very kind and soft. Ash began breathing hard. He threw the paper at Charlie and stood up.

It was getting very tense and both Max and Phil started over to the kitchen.

“You’re wrong!” Ash almost shouted at Charlie.

Charlie stayed sitting and kept his voice calm. “I’m not telling you anything one way or the other. I’m here so you can tell me. If you say you don’t know him, I believe you.” He picked up the paper Ash had thrown at him, a paper Bruce could now see was filled with the photographs of a dozen kids, and put it back on the table. “Like I said - this was found on one of the computers at Club Cod. Do you know the name of that boy?” Charlie pointed to a single boy on the paper.

Ash’s mouth pinched into a thin line and he stared at the paper with a terrible expression of pain and hate and grief. He snatched up the paper and marched over to Max. He shoved the paper at Max. “He was my best friend! He would have told me if he’d been one of Dino’s kids! He would have told me!”

The room was uncomfortably silent at Ash’s display of pain. Max took the paper and put a hand on Ash’s arm. “Ash, I know you hate this, but Charlie needs an answer. Think with your head instead of your emotion. Do you know that kid?”

Ash’s eye’s grew misty. “Shorter. It’s Shorter. He was at Club Cod.”

Ash-

The pain Ash felt when he saw Shorter’s face amongst the many other kids of Club Cod hurt more than any stab wound or gunshot he’d ever taken. He felt sick and faint. Shorter had been big and strong, he’d always been strong. Ever since they’d met in juvie, Shorter had seemed too big for life with his big voice and big personality. His confidant smile had told Ash that Shorter could take on the whole world without problem and he’d defended Ash against the worst people in that place without any fear. Even after they both got out of juvie, Shorter had ruled the Chinatown streets without trouble - an easy-going, generous leader who’d earned the respect of his people.

But... there he was. A tiny photo in the middle of the page Charlie had put in front of Ash. He couldn’t have been more than ten-years-old in the photo and had a full head of fluffy hair. He glared defiantly at the camera. Under the photo was the name, “Jason Wong”. Shorter’s real name. 

Very suddenly, with Max still holding Ash’s arm, Ash suddenly remembered.

Memory -

They’d been in juvie and he’d argued with Shorter. Shorter had been angry about Ash manipulating one of the other inmates. He’d intended to use that one to fight off another inmate who’d wanted to kill Ash. It had seemed like a perfectly reasonable plan considering Ash was so much smaller than any of them. But that had led to the argument.

“I’d say there’s something wrong with using other people as tools,” Shorter had said, his face grave.

Ash had snapped back, full of venom and spite. He’d yelled at Shorter that it wasn’t as if the other guy had any noble intentions, either. That guy hadn’t cared about Ash, only wanted to use him. Just like everyone else. Every other garbage person who’d ever touched him had only wanted to use him and he was so angry, angry to the point of explosion. Angry at the whole world and everyone in it and especially Shorter who’s only crime was to be standing in front of Ash at that moment. “What would you know about it, anyway? You don’t have a clue,” Ash had growled out. “Of even half the crap I’ve been through.”

“Sure I do.”

“Give me a friggin’ break!”

“I know how you feel, Ash!!”

End Memory-

The rest of the memory faded away. Ash stared at Max, horrified. “He DID tell me. Oh, God! He told me back then and I didn’t listen. Too caught up in my own stuff. He tried to tell me and I wouldn’t listen.” Ash put his hands over his face and dug his fingernails into his skin. Shorter had known, had always been sensitive and understanding about Ash’s situation with Dino and Ash had been too stupid to realize why.

“Right, that’s enough.” Ash felt Jessica’s thin arm slip over his shoulders. “Enough excitement for one day.”

“I agree.” It was Doctor Banner who’d said that. “He needs rest. I’m sorry, detective, but he’s getting too agitated. Perhaps you can visit another time.”

Big hands cover Ash’s and his hands were gently pulled away from his face. Max. “Don’t hurt yourself. That’s not allowed.”

With Jessica at his side, Max leading the way, and Doctor Banner trailing along behind, Ash felt weak and helpless. Shorter was dead, Ash couldn’t fix this. He couldn’t apologize, couldn’t thank Shorter for all that he’d done and he couldn’t give Shorter any comfort for what he had gone through. Shorter deserved comfort, too. Did Shorter have anyone to support him after he’d escaped Club Cod? Had he ever talked about it? He should have been able to talk to Ash, to confide in him, but he’d tried and Ash had ignored him. There was no other way to see it - Ash had entirely failed Shorter and he could never make it right. 

Ash wanted to talk to Eiji.

To Be Continued...

A/N: The memory Ash had of Shorter in juvie was from Angel Eyes.  
There was a mention of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in this chapter. I hope someone caught it.  
Also, I plan to update on Saturdays from now on.


	11. HYDRA

Chapter 11: HYDRA

S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters-  
Japser Sitwell-

Rumors tended to run like wild-fire at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and it couldn’t possibly have escape Jasper Sitwell’s notice that everyone had been talking about how Fury and Coulson had spent a full night arguing with the members of the World Security Council. No one had seemed to know what the exact issue was and that was enough to make Sitwell curious.

S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Japser Sitwell was a double agent. While he worked as a highly regarded S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, his primary occupation was spying on S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Avengers for the HYDRA organization. It was an interesting position to be in as it gave him access to all the most intriguing information of both organizations. All he had to do when he wanted to find out what S.H.I.E.L.D. or The Avengers were up to, was take a peek in the S.H.I.E.L.D. computer system. The morning when he’d heard the rumors about Fury and Coulson arguing with the council members, Sitwell went into his office and slipped into the S.H.I.E.L.D. computer system. The argument, he found, was over The Avenger’s putting the witness to a crime into protective custody. The witness wasn’t named, nor was the crime. The lack of information inspired his curiosity. He hadn’t heard of anything lately that was big enough for The Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. to be concerned with. It took a little time and effort, but he managed to find out that they were guarding a witness to a child abuse case. That struck him as odd considering that The Avenger’s normally dealt with things on a grander scale - alien invasion, terrorist threats, ect. - but it wasn’t unbelievable that people with their type of character would want to help bring about justice no matter what the issue. He looked further into the records and found that the witness was going to testify about a place called Club Cod.

That name sounded familiar enough that he began to research Club Cod. It was the work of mere minutes to find and watched the news report about Club Cod and the child abuse organized there. It had taken far longer for him to find out that the owner was Dino Golzine and, seeing that name on the computer’s screen, made Sitwell sit up at attention. Now, THAT name he knew! He frowned at his computer and kept searching. Golzine’s involvement complicated matters.

He went to the NYPD computer system and looked at the evidence that was found at Club Cod - bodies, murder weapons, murder suspects all sitting in jail, plus information on computers. He hunted this way and that on the system and was largely disinterested in the matter of Club Cod except that it was connected to Dino Golzine. He found a list of the names of clients of Club Cod along with information about their preferences and the dates they’d patronized Club Cod. He scanned down the list of names until one, near the bottom, caught his eye. He cursed softly and promptly took her name off the list. He also took off several incriminating videos of her committing her crimes. 

With that done, he kept searching. What he needed was to know who the witness was and whether or not they knew anything about Golzine’s more important project. If he was very lucky, the witness only knew about Club Cod. But even if that was all the witness knew, it was possible that the police would investigate Golzine far enough that they would find clues leading them to that other project and Sitwell couldn’t have that coming to light. He found quite a bit of information as he searched, but in the end, he decided to take the chance of looking in Fury’s computer. 

It was a risk. As the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury had the highest of security on his computer, but Sitwell considered himself quite good with computers and decided to just take a quick look around. There was quite a lot of communication between Fury and Coulson, but that was to be expected considering Coulson’s influence and standing in the organization. There were almost no records at all of any kind of witness protection on Fury’s computer, but he did find one email sent to Fury from Coulson.

**Witness found and identified as Ash Lynx. Injured. Taken home.**

And he had a name to research. There was quite a bit of information when one knew where to look. There were sealed police reports from Lynx’s youth - he’d been arrested for prostitution three times between the ages of eleven and thirteen. A little deeper digging showed Sitwell that Lynx had been arrested for his first murder at age eight. He’d shot a man who, it was later discovered, had already killed fifteen kids and buried them in his back yard.

Sitwell found a report detailing how Dino Golzine’s mansion in New Jersey had been allegedly vandalized by a gang of street kids. The photograph of the mansion didn’t show vandalism to Sitwell’s notion of it - the place was nearly destroyed. The leading suspect was Ash Lynx. The report was accompanied by a photograph of a skinny boy with blonde hair and a completely indifferent expression. There were little notes from the police in Lynx’s file - one officer noted that Lynx was the leader of a large gang at only sixteen-years-old and controlled all of Manhattan. Another officer noted that Lynx was a deadly shot and had excellent aim, though he hadn’t mentioned how he’d learned that fact. A third officer put in a note with a sympathetic attitude that said Lynx had delivered to the police station a woman who, Lynx had told the officer, had been ‘messing around with little girls in the park’. He’d also given a warning that he wanted her off his streets. If he found the woman on his streets again, he’d make sure she wasn’t found again. Ever. There was a photocopy scanned into Lynx’s file, of an I.Q. test with the impressive number 180 printed at the top of it.

Sitwell sat back and stared at the number. He began to smile.

Genius.

Set siege to the mansion of Dino Golzine and won, no mean feat.

Controlled a large, violent street gang at a very young age with, apparently, very little trouble.

His smile grew. Ash Lynx. Clearly, he was a boy with potential.

By the time he’d finished his research, Sitwell had found more information about Golzine and his business, but nothing about what he had been hoping to find. He made some printouts of some interesting points he’d discovered and put them in his briefcase and stood up from his desk. It took very little time for Sitwell to lock up his office and head out of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. He left a message for anyone that might try to contact him that he was out for the day and was whistling cheerfully as he arrived at the office of Councilwoman Thema Shehata, one of the most respected voices on the World Security Council. 

Councilwoman Thema Shehata-

In her office, Thema Shehata sat with her hands folded on the desk in front of her. She was fifty-two years old and had dark hair liberally streaked with gray. Her normally stern face was downright severe as she considered the situation. For the past week, each day brought more and more disturbing news, but it had begun months ago.

The trouble had first become apparent when she’d called to make an appointment to speak with Dino Golzine and had been told in no uncertain terms by some nameless peon who’d answered the telephone, that Mister Golzine would return her call at a later time. He was occupied. That had, rightfully, angered her at the time. Golzine had an inflated ego, but he was valuable in what he controlled and the covert project he had been orchestrating for the past many years. She allowed the ill-manners to pass.

Her next hint of something being not quite right with Golzine was the news report about his mansion being nearly destroyed by some petty street gang. She’d called Golzine, again, but a distracted sounding person answered and immediately told her that Monsieur Golzine was not giving interviews and hung up. Then, shortly after came reports of alleged tax evasion and suddenly a wild frenzy had risen up when 90 million dollars went missing from the collective investments of the Corsican Syndicate Golzine was apart of and Golzine’s virtual fingerprints were all over it. Golzine had, apparently, gone to Europe to explain himself and the next thing Shehata knew, Golzine was replace by some baron. She had been ready to make contact with that baron, to change her focus to him as the one who controlled the precious project, but before she’d even had time to meet him, he’d been killed. He hadn’t even survived his first day in America. As the days went by, there were rumors and news reports until it culminated with the most surprising information of all and it came not from a rumor or a spy, but from a newspaper article.

She’d let one hand drift to the photograph in the newspaper of the young blonde sitting in a wheelchair next to Golzine at some social affair. The boy was dressed well in tuxedo, his golden hair styled very fashionably. His expression was as empty as stone and, at the bottom of the newspaper photograph was the caption, “Dino Golzine adopts homeless orphan”. She let her eyes drift to the image of Golzine’s triumphant face. “What have you done? You stupid man.”

There had been no further news after that, no rumors or whispers about Golzine at all. It was as if he’d dropped off the face of the Earth. Repeated calls to his home gave no results.

And then came the sensationalized report, only days ago, about the Club Cod restaurant. She’d been at home when she’d heard about it and it took the breath from her. She actually gone dizzy and had to sit down while the scene played out on the television in front of her. Club Cod was being investigated. The police were involved. A witness. An unnamed witness with a list of names. The witness was willing to testify. Everything was going to come out. She could see her whole life collapsing, her reputation forever ruined.

She had gone to her office and no one had said a word about anything. There hadn’t been a visit by the police or any other sort of authority, no calls from the press. Everything had been perfectly normal. That had continued for several days, but she was sure it wouldn’t last. Sooner or later, her name would come to light. Fury had been ever so efficient and sent an email to let everyone on the World Security Council know that he had decided to undertake the protection of a witness willing to testify about Club Cod. Fearing that the witness would be her downfall, she had argued fiercely against the Avenger’s taking the witness into their protection, but with Coulson arguing on his side, Fury had won the day. With the witness being protected by The Avengers, she wasn’t sure how she could silence them.

“Well, don’t you look stressed?”

Thema pulled her thoughts away from her memories and her troubles and saw Jasper Sitwell standing in her office’s doorway. She started to sweat.

Sitwell stepped into the room without invitation and closed the door behind him. Then, he locked it. Still smiling, he pushed his glasses up on his nose a little with one finger. “Seen the news lately?”

She didn’t answer and hated him for his smarmy, arrogant attitude. He knew what the problem was, probably knew it better than Thema did, but he liked to play.

“I saw it.” Sitwell strolled across the room and sat at the guest’s chair on the opposite side of Thema’s desk. He set his briefcase on the floor next to him and folded his hands on his lap, looking for all the world as comfortable as if he were having a day at the beach. “Goodness, what a lot is going on in New York, lately. Turns out the name ‘Dino Golzine’ is being thrown around a lot.” He waited a moment, to give her a chance to respond. When she kept silent, he snapped, “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“You can’t blame me for this.” She put her hands on her desk and worked hard to cover herself in a mask of cool indifference.

“I certainly can. Madam Shehata, do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused? It was your duty to keep an eye on Golzine’s B1 project. That was the only thing you had to do for HYDRA. So, what do I find when I take a little breeze through the evidence the NYPD has from the Club Cod case? I found your name on a list of the Club Cod clients. Apparently, Golzine was extremely well organized and he had all the names alphabetized so your name was far to the bottom and it appears the police haven’t started investigating you, yet.”

She closed her eyes briefly.

Sitwell went on, “Well, you look a bit relieved. How nice for you. Does that mean you didn’t know about the video evidence?”

“The what?”

“Yes, apparently Golzine liked a little insurance. In addition to a list of names of clients and the dates when they went to Club Cod and detailed notes about their preferences and history at Club Cod, he also recorded every visit to his establishment. You were caught on video with that young blonde. Four times.”

Thema felt sick. She hadn’t known. Of course Golzine wouldn’t advertise that he’d done such a thing, but, in hindsight, she should have expected it. It wasn’t as if Golzine was a respectable, honorable man.

“The police won’t see those things, now.”

Thema looked at Sitwell, stunned. “What?”

“I’ve taken care of it. They won’t see your name on that list or the video. With that little concern out of the way, we can deal with important issues. What has happened to the B1 project?”

She was acutely aware that she owed him. Sitwell didn’t do things out of the kindness of his heart. She’s have to pay for having him clean up the mess and that, more than the mess itself, infuriated her. Still, there was little to be done about it. So she swallowed her pride. “The last I’d heard, the B1 project - code named Banana Fish - was being worked on at the National Institute of Mental Health in New Jersey. It was less than a fifteen minute drive from Golzine’s mansion so he undoubtedly chose the location for his convenience. He started out with a Doctor Abraham Dawson as the lead researcher, but he died some months ago. After that, he had a Doctor Mannerheim, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health, heading up the project. I would expect the Banana Fish is still with him.”

“You were very distracted by the news about Club Cod, weren’t you? If you hadn’t been distracted, if you’d done even a little research, you would have known that Doctor Mannerheim is dead. He was found in the mess of bodies at Stark’s newest real estate development. How about Golzine? Have you contacted him?”

“I have tried, but I haven’t been able to reach him.”

“I see. So, we have Golzine missing, his researcher is dead, and you have no idea where the Banana Fish is. Is that correct?”

Thema thought desperately. She couldn’t deny that Sitwell was quite right - she had been distracted by Club Cod. She hadn’t been able to think of anything else since the news had come out, she certainly hadn’t given even one thought to Golzine’s Banana Fish project, which she had been assigned to monitor. “I haven’t abandoned my assignment. Everything happened so quickly, there was no time to do anything, yet.”

Sitwell took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, then slowly put them back on. “You do understand the importance of the Banana Fish to HYDRA, don’t you? If it works as well as Golzine believes it will, the potential is virtually unlimited. A mind-control drug that is one hundred percent effective. It doesn’t fail and there is no recovery. A single dose is all that would be needed to turn anyone, in the entire world, into a HYDRA agent. We could have Captain America himself working for HYDRA. Wouldn’t that be lovely? Now, it’s gone. We have no idea whether the Banana Fish is destroyed, stolen, or sitting safely in a filing cabinet somewhere.”

“I didn’t- ”

Sitwell held up a hand. “Don’t. Don’t make excuses. It’s undignified. You knew very well how important your task was. Not only has HYDRA lost the Banana Fish drug, but your name ended up on a list now in the hands on the police and enthusiastic lawyers. The first five seconds of one of the videos of your debauchery would be more than enough to put you in prison for at least a decade. Frankly, considering what you did to that poor boy, I’d be afraid to leave a dog in your care. If I hadn’t found your name on that list and hidden all the evidence against you, the police would have reached your name and started to investigate. The fact that you are a councilwoman on the World Security Council would, naturally, make the investigation even more in depth and would have gotten S.H.I.E.L.D. involved. I can only imagine it would take, perhaps, a couple of hours to discover your true allegiance and, from there, all our plans would have fallen apart. Your indulgence...” he sneered the word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. “Has the potential to ruin years of work infiltrating agents into S.H.I.E.L.D. and into the World Security Council and all because you couldn’t keep your hands off Golzine’s little boys.”

She kept her chin high. “I did my job and kept tabs on the Banana Fish project, but I was never expected to sit by Golzine’s side 24/7. Just like his other potential buyers, he spoke to me when there were new developments and invited me to a few demonstrations of the Banana Fish, but he wouldn’t accept interference on his project.”

“Maybe. But you could have done a little research. While you’ve been sweating this morning, I spent about twenty minutes online and found this.” Sitwell put a large manila envelope on Shehata’s desk. “Go ahead. Open it.”

She did and inside where copies of legal forms and photographs of a graphic crime scene. There were several morgue photos.

“All that,” Sitwell said as he began to carelessly pace the room. “Is what you should have already discovered. The entire force of Colonel Foxx’s men - very useful people we’ve employed many times for various duties that required more brute force than finesse. All of them were found dead in a building owned by Tony Stark along with Doctor Mannerheim.” He added papers detailing the witness’ criminal history. He added paperwork about Golzine being investigated for tax fraud and other various details surrounding Golzine. “This is big and the longer these investigations go on, the more will be uncovered. We need to get Banana Fish and we need it as soon as possible.”

She set all the papers he’d given her back on the table and pushed them back towards him. “I know how bad the situation is.”

“Then fix it.” Sitwell’s voice had gone cold. “Find the Banana Fish.”

“And the witness?”

“You keep away from him. Don’t go near him, don’t even think about him. You just do your job and find the Banana Fish. It must be out there, somewhere. Pray that it is, because if you come back empty-handed it’s entirely possible that the higher-ups will decide you’re more of a liability than an asset.”

“What about the witness? Even if you’ve erased the evidence against me...”

“Ah! Hidden, not erased. It’s still easily accessible to anyone who knows where to look. Just keep that in mind.”

She huffed a breath through her nose at his thinly veiled threat. “Fine. Even if you have hidden the evidence against me, the witness will still speak under oath and if that witness can name hundreds of others with proof, there’s no reason why a jury won’t believe him if he adds my name to that list, evidence or not.”

“I’ll deal with the witness. He’s got far too much potential to waste by killing him, which I’m sure you would do without thought to the benefit he might be to HYDRA. With the right training and discipline, he could be one of the greatest assets HYDRA has ever produced. So you focus on finding Banana Fish and let me take care of the witness.” Sitwell stood up and walked out without another word.

Thema waited a moment and, when she was sure he was gone, then picked up her phone. The Lee family had always proven to be effective when she needed discrete jobs done and their intelligence network was extremely competent. She could have them start looking for Golzine and, as soon as she found him, she was sure she’d have the drug. She had heard the news that the head of the family, Lee Wang-Lung, had died along with most of the rest of his family, but the second brother, Lee Hua-Lung, had taken over and she’d dealt with him a time or two. She hadn’t expected an unfamiliar voice, Lee Yut-Lung, to be brought to the phone. He sounded young and impatient and she had no urge to bring someone into the matter if she didn’t know them, so she made her excuses and hung up.

As she thought about her next move, she closed her eyes and thought back to her visits to Club Cod. She’d always taken the same boy. He’d been young and blonde with a delicate, finely-shaped face. His green eyes nearly shone like the eyes of a cat. “Two thousand a night.” She smiled. “You were entirely worth it.”

The Avenger’s Tower-  
Max-

Max had taken Ash to his room and, after checking quickly to make sure Ash’s wounds were healing well, sat and kept Ash company until Ash finally fell asleep. At least, Max thought Ash was asleep. He faked, sometimes. Max retired to the rooms Stark had given them to use. Finally finished being set up, they were very nice, he’d thought. 

“Ash needs to be with us,” Jessica reminded Stark as he gave them a quick tour of the room.

“There a room for him just there.” Stark had pointed to another door next to the room for Michael. “It’s small but we were on short notice.”

Max glanced in the room and assured Stark, “It’s great. The boy’s not picky.” He winced. ‘Eighteen,’ Max told himself. ‘He’s eighteen - a man, now, not a boy.’

He’d carried Michael, still sleeping, to the little room that had been set up for him and put him to bed. A few age-appropriate toys had been left in the little room along with two blankets - one with dinosaurs and one with spaceships. Knowing his son’s recent infatuation with the color green, he covered Michael with the dinosaur blanket before he joined Jessica in the living room. It wasn’t home, not really, but it was comfortable enough and private. Soon, night fell and he and Jessica went to bed, too.

“He’s going to be alright, isn’t he?” Jessica had asked as they’d laid together in the darkness. “Ash was so broken up about Shorter.”

“Ash will survive.”

“Surviving isn’t the same thing as being alright.”

Max thought of Griffin, lost in his nightmares while staring at the hospital ceiling, completely separated from the real world.

In the darkness, Jessica took his hand and squeezed it. “He NEEDS to talk to someone. Someone professional.”

“I know. We can’t force him to, though.”

“Yeah.” She just sounded sad and Max wished he could fix things for everyone. Eventually, they both fell asleep.

Max woke up to the ringing of his phone. He blinked in the darkness until he was awake. Jessica was asleep beside him. She was warm and snored. He sat up and grabbed his phone from the bedside table before it could wake Jessica and answered it with a yawn.“Yeah? What?” At the sound of the voice on the other end, he was immediately awake and smiled. “Yeah? In two days? Don’t worry, I’ll be there. And we’ll keep it a secret. Don’t tell Ash anything.”

To be continued...


	12. Chang Dai

Chapter 12: Chang Dai

Gregory-

In what was likely the lowest honkey-tonk bar in New York, Gregory sat at a table in the dimmest part of the bar. The light overhead was broken and his back was to a wall so that he could face the rest of the room. His hand rested on the sweating bottle of beer on the table in front of him that he had no intention at all of drinking. If Papa Dino could see him in that moment... oh, what would he say?! 

Gregory had certainly never expected to find himself in such a place. There was flannel and denim, cowboy hats and work boots everywhere. The room was filled with cigarette smoke. There were women with big hair and a tacky amount of make-up. The majority of the men were unshaven. The whole place was flooded with loud country music, annoying voices, and the sharp rap of pool balls striking one another.

The place was low, far less than anything he’d ever expected to be in, but it was the best hiding place he could find. That thought only fueled his anger. Hiding. He was hiding. Granted, the person he was hiding from was Blanca and if there was ever a person to fear, it was certainly Blanca, but Gregory still didn’t like it. He had reasoned that such a place was the last place Blanca would think to look for him in and, therefore, gave him the most time. Of course if he stayed too long, he was certain that, eventually, Blanca would find him there, so his time wasn’t unlimited. Even his quick disguise wouldn’t save him for long. He’d shaved off his goatee and bleached his hair. He’d gone so far as to get appropriate clothes and dressed himself in denim and flannel, the virtual uniform of the place. He was certain few people would know him, but that didn’t stop him from staring at the door or tensing every time someone walked a little too close to his table.

The cell phone in his pocket went off and he answered it with a curt, “What?”

“It’s done.”

Gregory struggled not to smile. “All of it?”

“Yes. It wasn’t hard. We sent it to your man, Evanstine, and he’ll see that it gets wherever it needs to go.”

“Good. And you? Are the two of you ready?”

“We’re headed to Chinatown, now. Don’t worry about our side of the bargain. We have just as much to lose as you do if the boy talks. He’ll be dead as soon as he gets in our sights.”

Gregory hung up and paid for the drink before he left the bar and headed for Chinatown. It was risky. Blanca wasn’t the only one out for his head. Papa Dino had plenty of enemies and Gregory’s face was familiar to all of them. Chinatown in particular was risky. Even with the massive change in power that had occurred when the youngest Lee brother had washed away the rest of his family in a sea of blood, there were still plenty of people who knew his face and would have undoubtedly enjoyed the opportunity to earn points with Lee Yut-Lung by killing one of Papa Dino’s men. He may have collaborated with Papa Dino on several issues, but Gregory didn’t for even a minute think that Lee Yut-Lung was stupid enough to pass up a chance to grab a little more power with Papa Dino dead. Despite the risks, he went to Chinatown and found his way to the Chang Dai restaurant. He covertly glanced into the restaurant through the large front window and saw a young woman serving a table. She wasn’t an attractive woman - boyishly short hair, a plain face, and no curves worth talking about. He kept walking until he found a place where he could wait and watch, no matter how long it took for Ash to show up.

The Avenger’s Tower-  
Phil-

After learning what had happened to a friend of his, Ash was led out of the room and back to his bed. Phil watched as Ash was helped away, all his strength seemingly drained. This whole mission was just as hard as he’d feared. Getting Ash into the safety of the Avenger’s Tower had been hard, but, as was to be expected of someone who’d survived what Ash had, there were land mines lurking just below his calm facade. And that detached attitude Ash kept up was a facade, Phil believed. It was a good one, to be sure, but old. So old that it had cracks and weak spots. Most people might not see it, but Phil had been trained to see such things. The outburst from seeing the face of a friend on that roster from Club Cod was only one sign of the cracks in Ash’s facade. Even in the short time he’d known him, Phil had caught looks, certain mannerisms, a tension in the shoulders that told him as clearly as anything that Ash wasn’t nearly as composed as he wanted everyone to think, not nearly as in control as he fought to be.

No one said anything for a moment after Ash left and the door closed behind him, until Detective Charlie Dickinson, who’d brought the bad news, awkwardly collected his papers. “I’m sorry for all this, folks. I’ll get out of your hair.”

“Not at all,” Phil turned on his polite smile. He was inclined to like Detective Dickinson. “We welcome anyone who can help in the situation. Is there anything I can help you with while you’re here?”

Charlie shook his head. “No. I don’t think so. We’re still going over quite a lot of evidence and when this showed up, I needed to ask Ash about it.” He looked down at the paper with all the children’s photos on them. “We’re still trying to match names with faces, but, honestly, names didn’t seem to be very important to them. There’s a list of names that was found on the owner’s computer and more galleries like this,” he raised the paper a little to indicate it. “But we have to match them together and that’s proving difficult. Several families have come forward looking for their missing children. Three were claimed. It’s... it’s been hard.” He gave what looked like an almost painful smile. “I suppose it’s good that they have closure by getting the children back, but Captain Jenkins had to tell the families where their children were found, had to have them I.D. the bodies. It’s not going to get easier. We’re hoping more families will come forward.”

“What about Ash’s family?”

Detective Dickinson looked sad. “He’ll talk about that when he’s ready. Look, I know his reaction just now was rough, but please understand what a hard time this is for him. Shorter was practically a brother to him.”

“You knew him?”

“Shorter Wong was the leader of the Chinatown street gang. Normally, the leaders of two different gangs wouldn’t get on well, but those two understood each other. They could work together and hang out together and neither lost any respect from their gangs. Shorter died a few months ago. I wasn’t there, but Max told me it was real hard on Ash. To find out Shorter had suffered in Club Cod, too... well. I’m sure you can understand the shock. I should go. I need to talk to Shorter’s sister about this.” He looked shattered about the prospect, but shook hands all around and bid everyone a good night. He hesitated at the door. “Please, tell Max I need to talk to him soon.”

Yes, Phil was inclined to like Detective Dickinson. His professional training told him that Charlie was honest, a young man genuinely concerned for the people around him. It was good, Phil decided, that Ash had people like that around him. If they had to have more police officers coming to the Tower, then he wouldn’t mind if they were like Charlie.

Once Detective Dickinson had gone, Phil turned his attention to the rest of the room. He quietly said, “J.A.R.V.I.S., is everything alright with Ash?”

“I believe so. He is sitting on his bed and listening to Mister Glenreed who is telling him that he didn’t do anything wrong and Shorter wouldn’t have blamed him for anything. Phil, may I ask a question?”

“Of course.”

“Mister Lynx is very restless, though he seems tired. He will not sleep. I have spoken with him, played Go with him, and played what is generally described as soothing sounds, but it has not helped. Am I doing something wrong? Sir does not like to sleep in darkness, Bruce likes darkness and silence. Clint likes the soothing sounds I tried to play for Mister Lynx and Steve sleeps best with a radio playing. Natasha will not sleep around people she doesn’t know well. There are many different sleeping habits, I have noticed, but I am unsure how to help Ash.”

It warmed Phil’s heart to know that J.A.R.V.I.S. wanted to help, but also to know that he’d cared enough to notice the team’s sleeping habits and tried to cater to them. He wondered if J.A.R.V.I.S. wanted to help because Tony had programed him that way, which would show Tony’s deep concern for other people, or if it was simply J.A.R.V.I.S.’ personality, the character he’d developed on his own after Tony had finished his programming. “Remember - Max and Jessica both said Ash wasn’t likely to sleep well. Ash has only been here a few hours. He’s bound to be a little unsettled. Sooner or later, he’ll get tired enough that he’ll sleep whether he wants to or not. Don’t worry about it. I think you’re doing an excellent job just taking the time to talk to him. Did he really give you such a hard time with the Go game?”

J.A.R.V.I.S. made a little rippling, static sort of noise, as if he were laughing. “He is an excellent opponent. I do not praise lightly when I say that I almost thought I was playing with another computer.”

“I presume you used a holographic board and pieces?”

“No.”

“But we don’t have a physical board.” Phil frowned. “How did you play without a board?”

“We didn’t need one. We simply called out where to move our next stone. I am easily able to keep track of where on the board the pieces should be, but Ash apparently had no trouble remembering it, either. He kept his eyes closed and told me the coordinates of where he was putting his next stone, as if he could see the game being played out in his mind. We played for nearly a half-an-hour and he did not put a stone in an already occupied position even once. We paused the game when Detective Dickinson arrived. Given his current mood, I do not think we will play again, tonight.”

Phil was no expert on Go, though he had played a time or two. He did know that it was a game of strategy and logic. To be able to give J.A.R.V.I.S. a run for his money in such a game... it was remarkable. “J.A.R.V.I.S., is there any record of Ash having had an I.Q. test?”

“No.”

“Pity. It would have been interesting to see that.” It seemed obvious that the score would have been on the high side given how he played Go and how simply he’d solved the Rubix Cube earlier. “But in regard to his sleeping, I expect he just needs time to settle in. Don’t worry too much. I’ll keep an eye on things.” Because Phil tried very hard to keep an eye on everything. 

With that, he turned his attention to the rest of his team. Steve, always polite, had walked Detective Dickinson out. Tony had excused himself to get some work done in his workshop. Natasha and Clint, tied together by an invisible string, tended to keep track of each other. That was the only reason why Phil realized there was a problem. Natasha was sitting in the kitchen, alone. Natasha often needed time alone and it was something everyone on the team respected. Sometimes she liked to be near others, but there were times, many times, when noise and movement and talking were too much and she would simply leave. However, he couldn’t miss how melancholy her expression was. It seemed clear, at least to Phil, that Natasha wasn’t the one who’d wanted to be alone, this time. Clint had.

“What’s wrong?” Phil asked when he joined her at the table. He noticed, again, that there was some resemblance between her and Ash. He couldn’t really pinpoint it - maybe it was the fine lines of her profile and the shape of her lips... perhaps it was more the ears? He didn’t know what it was, but she definitely reminded him of Ash. She’d never had children, so that couldn’t be it. She’s told him once, very matter-of-factly, that The Red Room had made children impossible, to prevent complications. She had never voiced unhappiness with what had been done to her, but he had, once or twice, seen her watching children and their parents at the local park. 

“Clint is upset,” Natasha said, briskly. Despite her obvious unhappiness, she spoke as if she were giving a mission report - clear and concise. “I do not know what to do.”

“I’ll talk to him. Do you know why he’s upset?”

Natasha hesitated. “He has been upset since we saw the news report about Club Cod. He is more upset now.”

“I see. Thank you. It was good of you to keep track of him.” He did try to praise her when she made an attempt to help others or understand them. Given her training, both of those things were very difficult for her. “J.A.R.V.I.S., where’s Clint?”

“He is in the gym.”

“Thank you.”

In the gym, set up so that everyone could keep in peak physical condition, Clint was punching the punching bags Steve normally worked out with. Naturally, he couldn’t do any damage to them while Steve habitually broke them. Unbreakable punching bags was yet another project Tony was working on but hadn’t found a solution for. While Clint was strong, he couldn’t hold a candle to Steve. Few people could. But Clint had worked up a good sweat, punching the same spot over and over. He even looked angry and Phil didn’t like that. Clint was normally a very easy-going, mellow sort of person. To see him actually angry was extremely unusual.

Phil waited. 

For twenty minutes Clint tried to hurt the punching bag until he started to slow and then droop. He stood there a moment, breathing hard. Then he walked away from the punching bag and left the gym. Phil followed, silently. They ended up at the gun range and Clint went to a large collection of different types of firearms. He picked one and loaded it. Clint said, “I’ll be here a while. You shouldn’t wait for me.”

“I don’t mind waiting. You’re worth it.” Any moment he could take to work on his team’s self-esteem was time well spent. For such very good people, it was unbelievable how low they could think of themselves. “Do you want to talk about whatever’s bothering you?”

“It’s nothing. Really. Nothing happened to me.” He turned serious, troubled eyes to Phil. “No one ever touched me. I wasn’t hurt.”

That was alarming. Phil felt all his protective instincts flare to life. “But something did happen, didn’t it?”

Clint stared down the sight of his gun at the target at the other end of the range. His shoulders were stiff. Slowly, the gun lowered to his side. “Not really. Not like what happened to Ash.”

“You can tell me.”

Clint raised the gun, again, and fired. A bull’s-eye, naturally. “Let’s just say, “There but for the grace of God, go I.” and leave it at that. Nothing really happened. I’m okay. Just, hearing about what Ash lived through kinda makes me think about... stuff. It’s old news.” He turned his head and flashed a smile, warm and genuine. “I promise I’m okay.”

Phil felt a tendril of dread in his chest and anger. He didn’t know who to be angry at or what, exactly, he was angry about, but it certainly didn’t sound good. He didn’t like the idea of his team being treated badly and thinking about what their lives had been like before they’d gotten so strong made Phil want to hurt people. But he had accepted that he couldn’t solve everyone’s problems, especially not the problems that lay far in their pasts. He still wanted to hurt the people who’d caused those problems. “Alright. If you’re sure. Natasha was worried about you.”

“Oh, dear. You know, she’s a lot better at reading people than she thinks. I’ll go make sure I didn’t send her into a tizzy.”

The idea of Natasha - composed, elegant, and solemn - having a ‘tizzy’ was enough to make Phil smile. They both laughed together and headed upstairs so Clint could reassure Natasha there was nothing to worry about.

The day faded into night. Phil didn’t hear anything else that alarmed him too terribly. Clint spent the rest of the day with Natasha, laughing and teasing, though Phil suspected Clint had slipped on a cheery mask so Natasha wouldn’t worry. The rooms Tony had been getting ready for Max, Jessica, and Michael were finished and he took them off for a tour. While they were gone, Phil, Bruce, and Steve stayed in the common room to keep Michael company. Michael, still in awe of getting to meet his favorite super hero, was happy to sit on the floor with Bruce and play with Legos. Phil hadn’t even known that Tony had such a collection of Legos, but, in retrospect, it did seem like something Tony would have enjoyed. Currently, Michael was building a something, but Phil couldn’t tell what it was. No matter, it seemed to make him happy.

Phil went into the room and sat on the sofa in time to hear Michael say to Bruce, “... and Ash will live with us and he’ll get his own room.”

“Can you tell me why you like Ash so much?” Bruce asked. “You said he’s your best friend, but why?” He added another Lego to the wall he was building.

“Ash brought daddy home.” Michael pulled his teddy bear, who had been sitting next to him while he played, onto his lap and started to run his fingers over it’s well-worn fur. “The bad men were hurting mommy. They made her cry and ripped her clothes. One of the bad men made me watch and I don’t really know what they did, but it hurt mommy. Then they all ran away before the police got there. Then daddy got home. The bad men left because they knew Ash was bringing daddy home and daddy would’ve kicked their butts! That’s why Ash is my best friend - he brought daddy home so daddy could save mommy. And Ash is really nice and gives great hugs.”

Bruce smiled. “Those are good reasons to think Ash is pretty great.”

Though it all, Steve had been sitting in one of the large easy chairs, simply watching the play. He seemed happy enough but stood up and walked out. Just a few moments later, he returned with the teddy bear he’d gotten several days ago when they’d all first learned about Club Cod just in case there had been any survivors. There had been a survivor, but Phil suspected that the odds of Ash accepting a teddy bear as a gift were not very high. Steve crouched down in front of Michael. “I know you already have a bear, but,” he held out his bear. “If you’d like it, you can have it. Maybe your bear would like a friend?”

Michael looked first at Steve and then at bear. He smiled. “For me? To keep forever?”

“Forever.”

Michael reached out and took the bear. “Thank you, Mister Rogers. She’s beautiful. I think her name’s Buddy.” Slowly, Michael smiled. “Can I give her to Ash?”

“If you want to. Do you think he’d want it?”

“Yup.” Michael patted Buddy’s head. “He needs a teddy bear. I really like the bear, but Ash needs someone to sleep with, too, so he won’t have anymore nightmares.”

Phil knew it would take more than a teddy bear to stop the nightmares that surely plagued Ash, but he said nothing. There was no reason at all to make Michael feel badly when he was clearly so proud to help Ash.

The rest of the evening was peaceful. Max and Jessica fetched Michael and took him off to their rooms to get him to bed and everyone else, one-by-one, drifted off to their own rooms to retire for the evening. As he started to go to sleep, Phil puzzled over the trouble with Ash’s friend, Shorter, but there wasn’t much that could be done. The boy was dead, according to Detective Dickinson. It was far more important to give Ash whatever support he needed to deal with the new found knowledge. Phil’s first instinct was to contact a therapist, but Max had been very confidant that Ash would have nothing to do with a therapist. Something had to be done. There was surely someone Ash would talk to.

Later-  
Ash-

Ash woke with a gasp. He blinked and saw nothing but darkness. His heart was racing, drumming against his ribs. His throat was dry and felt as if it would close up. The nightmare stayed with him for a time and he felt he was still in it, a big hand running over his back. He still heard Shorter, younger in Ash’s nightmare, crying for help. Shorter had been at Club Cod and Ash hadn’t been there to help.

“Mister Lynx?”

Ash forced himself to breathe. One breath, then two. He remembered he was in the Avenger’s Tower. The voice belonged to J.A.R.V.I.S., the computer that ran the whole building. Shorter had been at Club Cod, a scared little boy.

“Mister Lynx, are you alright? Sensors indicate elevated heart rate.”

Ash took one more deep breath. “Lights. Get the damned lights on.”

The lights immediately flashed on. The room was small and utilitarian. The bed was soft, but narrow. There was no art on the walls, no mirror. He wasn’t in the mansion. He wasn’t in Club Cod. Slowly, his heart eased and he was able to breathe more normally.

“Mister Lynx?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m alright.” Ash sat up and ran a hand through his hair. He was still dressed and really didn’t remember how he’d ended up in the bed. “How long was I asleep?” Shorter had been at Club Cod. He couldn’t escape the thought.

“Approximately nine hours. Max advised allowing you to sleep undisturbed. Everyone is currently asleep, but I have been asked to wake Max or Jessica if you need them. Do you require...”

“No. I’m good. Let them sleep.” Ash sat there for a moment, staring at his knees. His injuries hurt, throbbed with a hot agony. Maybe he was over-doing it, a little, but the idea of just laying around in bed made him cringe. He’d just lay there and think about Shorter. And that, naturally, brought another matter to mind. He stood up and stretched then ran a hand through his shaggy hair. He checked his cell phone and found that it was very early in the morning, but late enough that someone he knew would be awake. It was time he talked to her and explained. Ash stuffed his cell phone in his pocket and said, “Tell Max I went out. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

“Out?” J.A.R.V.I.S. repeated. “Is that wise? Your injury...”

“I know. It was bad, but it’s alright, now.” It probably wasn’t alright, but there was no point in worrying people and it wasn’t as if Ash could afford to just lay around doing nothing. There was stuff to do, important stuff. “I’m good. Honestly.” Ash looked quickly around the little room, but there was hardly anything in it. He did see a bottle of pills sitting on a note on a little bedside table. 

“Ash,” the note read. “Take two pills and eat something. Jessica.”

He swallowed the two pills - antibiotics - and then thought about eating. He really should. Blanca had always stressed the importance of a healthy diet and had even taken many long hours during their lessons to teach Ash what he ought to eat to keep his body in top condition. He could practically hear Blanca’s soothing voice, “You must take care of your body to keep it strong and healthy. Your body is your number one weapon, so you must not neglect it.”

Logic dictated that Ash follow Blanca’s advice. The diet Dino had forced on Ash wasn’t healthy, so it would be sensible to ignore it as there was no longer any danger of being punished if Dino found out that Ash had snuck a cookie or a soda. Then why, Ash wondered, was it so hard? Still, he would try. “Anyone going to get an attitude if I get something to eat?” Ash asked.

“Certainly not. I am most certain that all would be pleased if you satisfy your appetite. Please, go to the kitchen and take whatever you please.”

Ash did just that. The kitchen turned out to be well stocked with so much food that Ash, for a moment, stood there and just stared into the refrigerator. He went to the look in the cabinets and then into a large pantry. There was food everywhere and Ash felt just a little overwhelmed by the selection. Then, thankfully, he saw a bowl of apples on the counter. Doctor Banner had said they would get apples for him. It was simple and easy. So he grabbed an apple and stood at the window as he ate. What he needed, he reflected, was a weapon before he went out. It was tempting to snatch a knife from the kitchen, but he didn’t have a convenient way to store it until he needed it. So he started to wander around the common room until he went back to the kitchen and began rummaging through drawers. Eventually he found the one thing all kitchens had - a junk drawer. In that drawer was a small extension cord. Ash pulled it out and looked it over before he bundled it up and stuck it in his pocket. He made a quick phone call to a local bank and had just hung up when the door of the common room opened.

Clint, fully dressed, walked in. He grinned at Ash. “J.A.R.V.I.S. said you were up and roaming around. You are one tough guy, know that? I’d take the opportunity to sleep, if I were you.”

“No time. I’m a busy guy.”

“I know. J.A.R.V.I.S. also told me you were planning to go for a walk. I’m on the schedule as your guard today, so I’ll be going with you.”

Ash frowned. “I don’t want a babysitter.”

“Welcome to the world of ‘Protective Custody’ where you don’t always get what you want. So, where are we going?”

It was obvious that Clint wasn’t going to be talked out of going, so Ash gave in and allowed Clint to walk with him. Not that he could stop Clint; he felt horribly weak, though the apple had helped. They were on the sidewalk, dawn just starting to rise, before Clint cleared his throat and said, “I’ve been thinking and I think I owe you an apology.”

Ash frowned. People didn’t, as a rule, apologize to him unless he was pointing a gun at their face. Suspiciously, he glared at Clint. “What for?”

Clint scratched the back of his head. “Getting nosy about what happened to you. In the hospital? I shouldn’t have gone asking all that and especially not in front of a crowd of people when you were hurt and probably just wanted some peace and quiet.”

“Is that all?” Ash rolled his eyes. It had been weird to have someone ask how he’d ended up in Club Cod, before he’d met Max no one had ever really cared. “Don’t worry about it.”

But Clint looked troubled. “I wanted to explain. You see... ummm... I grew up in a circus. I’m an orphan, but the circus people were always good to me. We traveled all over the place. We stopped in this one town and there was this guy, an outsider. He was real nice to me, always stopped for a chat when I was cleaning out the animal cages or something. He once gave me a kite and it was fantastic. I still remember - it had a sun painted on it. Well, one night, I heard him talking to the ringmaster. I was only little at the time - I think I was ten or maybe twelve - so I didn’t really understand all of what they were saying, but I did understand that the man wanted to buy me from the ringmaster. He offered the ringmaster two hundred dollars for me. I heard him mention something, though. He said he was going to take me to Club Cod.” Clint met Ash’s eyes, steadily. “When I heard about Club Cod on the news, I remembered all that. Then I met you and...well. I remembered. I wanted to know how you’d come to be in that place. I wanted to know if the same guy had bought you. It was stupid to ask you like that, though. I should have kept my mouth shut.”

Ash looked at Clint steadily. He didn’t see any deception. “I was homeless and trying to live on the streets. Dino kept a couple of guys on his payroll who snatched kids from the streets for him - kids no one cared about. Those guys found me and grabbed me. It’s weird someone would try to buy you; there are plenty of unwanted kids on the streets. Still,” he looked closely at Clint. “You’re pretty much Dino’s taste. White, blonde. When you were young, he’d have wanted you in Club Cod. He prefers green eyes, but there are people who like blondes with blue eyes, so you would have brought in good money for him. You didn’t get sold, though, did you?”

“I had a friend back then, the Swordsman. He sort of looked out for me. I told him what I’d heard that guy and the ringmaster talking about and he stormed off. A bit later he came back and told me not to worry about it anymore. We left the town that night and I never saw that man again. It occurred to me that maybe, if I had been taken to Club Cod, things might have been different for you.”

Ash cast Clint a curious look. “What are you talking about?”

“If I had been taken to Club Cod, I would have been able to stop it. I would have been able to do something about all that and save all those kids. I was a sharpshooter even when I was a kid, and I’d been trained to fight. I could have helped. If I’d gone, your friend wouldn’t have been put in Club Cod. You wouldn’t have had to go there. I might have stopped it long before you ever set foot there.”

“You’re actually feeling guilty because something bad DIDN’T happen to you?” Ash let out a dry chuckle. “Look, if you had gone there, you wouldn’t have ended up any better than anyone else. The first thing they did was drug everyone coming in. If they’d have found any weapons on you, they’d have taken ‘em. If they’d thought you posed a serious threat, they’d have killed you. Easy as that. So stop feeling guilty for what might have happened, but didn’t. Come on. I gotta go to the bank.”

“The bank?” Clint looked at his watch. “It’s too early. They won’t be open.”

“They’ll open for someone with a big enough account. Come on.”

At the bank, under the name of Christopher Winston, Ash had a meeting with the bank manager and Clint casually waited nearby. The bank manager had cheerfully opened early when he realized what an impressive account Ash kept at the bank. Ash checked a few boxes and signed some papers before the bank manager gave him a handful of envelopes and shook his hand. Ash and Clint walked around the city for a bit and Ash stopped by the hangout to give Alex a few instructions and let everyone know he was still alive, just busy. Then they moved on, Clint always a few steps behind and, reassuringly vigilant. It wasn’t too often that Ash met someone as aware of their surroundings as himself, but Clint was. Ash could tell Clint was constantly looking around, but was clever enough to make it all look casual, as if it were no big deal They went to Chinatown and it wasn’t until Ash was on the familiar streets he’d walked so often with Shorter that he began to have misgivings. Despite his apprehension, Ash kept going, right to the Chang Dai.

The moment they walked in, Nadia, standing at the cash register, saw them. She started to smile, but then must have seen the serious look on Ash’s face, because her smile fell away, too. It was early, far too early for her to open, but there was always work to be done before she could let customers in so she was always awake and working well before sunrise. When she opened the door for them, Clint discreetly went to a table in the far corner of the room while Ash and Nadia sat across from each other at another table. As was his habit, Ash sat with his back to a wall, facing the window - he didn’t like leaving himself exposed - and Nadia sat facing him.

“How are you doing?” Nadia asked after a moment. “Rumor is that you were stabbed. I hope you’re doing better.”

“I’m fine. I’m good. Look, Nadia,” Ash could hardly stand to look her in the eye. “I gotta tell you about Shorter. How he died. I don’t want to hurt you, but you gotta know.” His breath hurt in his chest. His heart ached. He’d known it would be hard, but this seemed too much. “Nadia, I...”

“I know.”

Ash paused and blinked. He looked at her. “What?”

“I know how Shorter died.” She reached across the table and took his hands in hers. “I know why he died. Sing told me everything he knows and Charlie told me what he knew. I thought you might want to talk about this sooner or later.” She stroked the backs of his wrists with her thumbs, a tender gesture, and looked at him with pity. “Ash, do you honestly think I would believe you would do anything to hurt Shorter?”

Ash pulled his hands away from her and put them on his lap. “I killed him. I shot him.”

“I know. And he was suffering, wasn’t he? Sing said there was an awful drug they’d given Shorter, something that affected his brain. Something he’d never recover from.” She sighed, sadly. “My poor little brother. I know he was feared on the streets, but he was my goofy little brother who read too many comic books and watched Three Stooges marathons. That someone would hurt Shorter like that... it’s too cruel. But you saved him from that pain. No,” she held up a hand when Ash tried to protest. “I won’t hear you argue. Not about this. Tell me the truth - he was suffering, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

“And he was never going to recover?”

“No.”

And she smiled. “Then thank you for saving him. Shorter never would have wanted to be trapped like that. I don’t blame you at all for what happened to him, but if you need to hear it - I forgive you.”

Ash felt something odd in his chest. It hurt, but it was a good hurt. It felt like something broken was starting to heal, but he couldn’t describe it any better than that. “Thank you.” He was suddenly acutely aware of Clint watching him and hurried to rein in his emotions. “Look. Here. I got something for you.” He pulled out one of the envelopes he’d gotten at the bank, earlier, and pushed it across the table to Nadia. “It’s Shorter’s share. He’d want you to have it.”

Nadia opened the envelope and her eyes went wide. “What...?”

“It’s a bank account I set up for you. Those numbers are the account number and the current balance. It’s yours.”

“I can’t take this.” Nadia shook her head and started to push the envelope back to Ash. “It’s too much. Where did it come from?”

“I stole it from some very bad people and they didn’t do anything honest to get it. I’m dividing everything I got between everyone who helped me, so that’s Shorter’s share. You take it. I won’t take it back. If it makes it any easier, that money belonged to the people who forced that drug on Shorter.”

After a moment Nadia nodded and took the envelope and put it in her apron pocket. “Alright. Thank you.” She paused and gave him a searching look. “You know it’s not necessary, don’t you? You don’t have to give away all your money to get forgiveness. Shorter was my only brother by blood, but with how close you two were, it always seemed as if I had a second little brother.”

Ash looked down at his lap, suddenly bashful. People didn’t say things like that about him. They just didn’t. “Don’t get all mushy. And it’s not for anything like forgiveness. Like I said - it’s dirty money. I stole it to make life hard for Dino, but I don’t want it. I don’t want anything of his. So I’ll give it to people who can use it. I want you to have it. Shorter would have wanted you to have it.” He gave a shrug. “If you don’t want it, that’s okay. I’ll get rid of it somewhere.” 

But Nadia didn’t give back the envelope and smiled at him, soft and gentle as always.

Ash didn’t like doing it, but he had gone to Chang Dai for more than giving Nadia Shorter’s money and apologizing for how Shorter had died. She deserved to know all the truth about Shorter, but just thinking about the expression she would get on her face, about how she would surely cry for Shorter, it made Ash’s throat close up. He didn’t want to do it. His hands were sweaty and he had to take just a second to let his mind go into the cool, stillness that he had learned in order to get unpleasant jobs done.

“Feeling too much is dangerous,” Blanca had once told him. “Powerful emotions are distracting and cloud the mind. Control them and allow your logic and reason to rule you. Then, you will complete your job successfully.”

So, Ash did as he’d been taught and let his anger, pain, and guilt fade into the background. “Nadia... about Shorter...”

“Is this about Club Cod?” Nadia gave Ash an encouraging smile. “I was wondering when you’d mention it. Charlie already told me.”

“He did? About Shorter being at Club Cod?” He couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t angry. He’d been prepared for her to cry, to leave the room, or even hit him. He didn’t expect her soft, gentle eyes to land on him with such sympathy. 

“Ash, Shorter was never at that place.”

Ash shook his head. “I saw his picture on the Club Cod roster. It was from Dino’s database. He kept records of all the kids.”

“I believe you, but Shorter was never at Club Cod. I told Charlie and he said he was going to go see you today and let you know.” Nadia stood up and went into the back room, a room Ash knew was used for storage. A moment later she returned with a large book and she put it on the table between them. It was a photo album and she flipped through it until she stopped at one page and showed Ash what was obviously a school photograph. That photograph was the same as the one used in the Club Cod roster. “Shorter was ten-years-old in this picture, I remember mother yelled at him because he wouldn’t wear a suit and tie to school for picture day.” She looked up from the photograph and met Ash’s eyes very seriously. “Shorter never went missing. Not for a single day. I wouldn’t forget something like that. He did go through some hard things when he was much younger, things he didn’t want you to know about because he knew it would upset you, but he never went missing.”

“I don’t get it.” Ash stared at the picture of Shorter and puzzled the mystery over. It was clearly the same photo that had been on the Club Cod roster. “Why...” his eyes roamed over the pages of the photo album, stuffed full of family pictures that showed the whole family together or individually. He’d never known Shorter had been a Boy Scout. He hadn’t known that Nadia had been a ballerina. And that was only on one page. What other secret treasures were in that album? Pictures of grandparents? Ash had never met any of his. He very suddenly wanted his picture of himself and Griffin dressed up as baseball players, but the thought of seeing himself in his little league uniform was not appealing. Maybe he could just cut himself out of the photograph and keep Griffin. That meant he’d have to go back to Cape Cod, though, so it probably wasn’t going to happen. His eyes drifted around the photographs until he noticed a small, pale spot near the photo of Shorter. “Something’s missing. What was there?” He pointed to the pale spot.

Nadia frowned at the spot. “It was the same picture only smaller, one of the wallet-sized ones they always give out with school pictures. I was just looking at this the other day and I know the picture was there. I wonder where it went.”

And it all fit together in Ash’s mind with alarming clarity. “Someone took it. They took it and faked the roster to bring me here.”

In the space of heartbeat, Ash’s thoughts began to race.

‘Who? Who did this? Rob Nadia of a childhood photograph of her dead brother and have that photograph added to the almost ten-year-old photo roster of Club Cod. It was meant for me to see. It wouldn’t mean anything to anyone else. Whoever did it knew that anything about Shorter would’ve grabbed my attention and would have sent me running here to investigate. Who? My guys wouldn’t dare pull this kind of sick prank. Shorter’s gang? No. They’re too loyal to Shorter’s memory and no one in Chinatown would deliberately put Nadia in danger. Yut-Lung?’ That gave Ash pause. ‘No. He’d try to kill me, but Sing’s working with him and Sing would kill anyone who hurt Nadia. Besides, Nadia’s got good standing in Chinatown and if word got out that the newest head of the Lee family had hurt her, there would be a riot. Yut-Lung can’t risk that when he’s still new to his position. Who else? And then the answer struck Ash like a hammer right between the eyes. ‘Arthur. Arthur knew I was tight with Shorter and that crawling dog would’ve had sung like a bird while he was busy licking Dino’s feet. He’d have told Dino everything, including how close me ‘n Shorter were. But Dino and Arthur are dead. Gregory and Angie were always with Dino, always lurking in his shadow. They’d have heard anything Arthur told Dino. I know I didn’t killed them when I ambushed Dino’s car, so they’re probably still alive. They’d be happy to kill me, but they’re both rubbish with computers. Neither of them could have slipped Shorter’s picture onto the Club Cod roster. So... who?’

He suddenly felt like he was being watched. Unsafe. Danger. Ash’s instincts screamed at him. ‘Danger! Down! Down!’ 

He lurched forward, out of his seat, and shoved Nadia backward just as the restaurant’s large front window was shattered when a bullet flew through it. Nadia screamed and Ash threw himself on the floor when a second shot was fired, lodging itself in the back wall. Under the table, Ash grabbed Nadia’s hand and pulled her under the table for safety. 

Clint was with them at once and, with one hand, he flipped the table they were hiding under on it’s side and used it as a shield between Ash and Nadia and the shooter. A hand landed on Ash’s shoulder and he heard Clint’s steady voice, “Stay down.” He looked up and there was Clint, gun in hand. He took his hand off Ash’s shoulder and knelt with them behind the table, peering over the top at the street outside. He was calm, Ash noted, with due respect. Clint didn’t shake or sweat or look even the slightest bit alarmed. He was perfectly composed. “Either of you hurt?”

Nadia shook her head. “No. I’m alright.” She wasn’t alright. She was shaking and pale. She stayed very still. “Ash, are you hurt?”

“Don’t worry about me.” Ash really wanted a gun. He started to push himself up, but Clint’s hand came back down on his shoulder. Ash shrugged him off.

“Stay where you are,” Clint told Ash, sternly. “I’m going to check it out. See if the shooter is still around.” He stood up cautiously and when there were no more gunshots, he went to the door and slipped outside.

People were yelling outside. Sing was going to be ready to chew nails when he heard someone shot at the Chang Dai and had nearly killed Nadia. Ash wasn’t overly happy about it, either. Ash stayed with Nadia, almost laying on the floor behind the protection of the table and hated how weak he felt. His wounds hurt after the rough dive to the floor, but it wasn’t enough to put him out of commission. He looked down at his gut and didn’t see any blood on his shirt. A good sign. He took a couple of deep breaths, then started to stand. Nadia grabbed his hand and tugged. 

“No! It’s dangerous!”

Ash was angry at the fear on her face. She shouldn’t be afraid in her own home. So he sat, again, and squeezed her hand. “I won’t let other people fight my battles.” It wasn’t right that Clint was out in the open looking for someone Ash should deal with while Ash sat there and cowered behind a table. “Just stay here and keep your head down until I get back.”

Nadia’s hand tightened on Ash’s. “I can’t lose Shorter AND you!”

“You won’t. I’ll be right back. I promise.” He waited and, after an agonizing moment, Nadia released his hand and Ash cautiously stood up.

Sitwell-

On the top of an apartment building two streets away from Chang Dai, Jasper Sitwell stood with his smoking gun in one hand, and looked down at the two dead men at his feet. One bullet in each head and the problem was dealt with. He hadn’t gone out that morning intending to kill anyone, but when he’d sat in his vantage point to watch the meeting in the Chang Dai restaurant he hadn’t expected assassins. Really, he should have. Considering the situation, the boy was likely to be the target of a great many attempts on his life. 

He had been watching the Avenger’s Tower and had been rewarded for his patience when he’d seen Ash Lynx and Hawkeye leave the Avenger’s Tower together. He followed then, very careful not to alert them to his presence until he saw them enter a restaurant and then he’d taken up a spot on a building across the street to watch and wait. He didn’t know why Ash Lynx would be going to such a run-down place, but that didn’t really matter. He only wanted a chance to speak with Ash Lynx, alone.

“And look at what you two did.” He commented at the two dead men. They were both actually very respectable looking. They were clean-cut and looked very much like proper businessmen on their way to the office. He’d noticed them when they’d arrived on the building next to the one he’d chosen, but didn’t become alarmed until he saw them setting up a rifle and start to aim. He hadn’t been fast enough to stop their first two shots. “I need him too much. I can’t have people like you doing something so wasteful as killing him.”

Sitwell pulled out his tiny spyglass from his pocket and used it to look over at the Chang Dai. He saw the large front window had been shattered. The streets had quickly emptied of people, frightened by the gunfire. After a moment, he watched as Hawkeye stepped out of the Chang Dai and at once start in the direction of the building Sitwell stood on. There was no doubt that Hawkeye, with his fantastic training, would find the would-be killers without any trouble. Sitwell looked back in the restaurant and saw, with relief, Ash Lynx stand up with no apparent new injuries.

“Looks like it’s time for me to leave. I’ll have to talk with the boy, later.” And he easily slipped away before Hawkeye arrived.

To be continued...


	13. A Knife Returned

Chapter 13: A Knife Returned

Blanca-

In one of the computer rooms of the New York Public Library, Blanca was hunting with a computer. One had to keep up with modern technology, after all. Gregory Dufort was proving to be a very good opponent, but he was not perfect. Security cameras were wonderful things, when taken advantage of. There were so many cameras in the city that it would have been unlikely if none of them had caught sight of Gregory. The trick was to find the right camera at the right time and that was exactly what Blanca had done. He was quite competent with computers and managed to hack into several systems around the area where Ash’s gang had ambushed Dino Golzine’s car. He found one camera that had recorded Gregory waking up and sneaking away before Blanca could deal with him. From there, Blanca was able to watch Gregory’s progress all around the city from here to there by using various business’ security cameras watching the areas just outside their establishments. He’d even managed to catch the moment he’d earlier called Gregory when he’d wanted to assure himself that his target was alive before he began the hunt. He followed Gregory as easily as if Gregory had left a trail of purple confetti behind him. It was all very simple, even working from one of the computers at the local library.

He’d heard the librarians gossiping earlier.

“I swear - it was him! I just thought I’d faint right then.” She was very young, likely a college student working a part-time job, and she grinned at her co-worker when she spoke. “Captain America, right here in our library. I only caught a glimpse of him, but oh! He was just as dreamy as he is in the news. That poor boy, though... gosh, there was blood all over the table he’d been sitting at. I saw him, too. He wasn’t too bad looking, either. Blonde and fair, but he wasn’t all beefy like Captain America. He was... well... pretty. You’d almost think he was a girl he was so pretty.”

Blanca heard blond, pretty, and boy and his thoughts flew immediately to his precious student. He closed down the computer he was working on after he erased all evidence of what he’d been doing and his mind turned to the first time he’d ever brought Ash to that very library.

Memory- 

“Do I look normal?” Ash asked the moment Blanca had walked into his bedroom. He wore a t-shirt and blue jeans. “This is normal, right? All the guys on the street look like this. Is it too poor? Do you have to wear good clothes to get into a library?”

“They won’t care what you dress like,” Blanca reassured him.

Ash was fourteen and trying not to act excited about going on his first trip to a library. Blanca didn’t question Ash’s worry about looking the right away; he knew very well that there was a ‘right’ look for every situation and it was always best to look as if one belonged. In that situation, Ash needed to look like a teenager being taken to a library and that was exactly what he did look like. Blanca had not waited for Ash to heal from his injuries, but rather kept his promise. The very next Thursday - two days after the party where Ash had entirely failed to entice a guest and then been punished by being lent out to a man who’d whipped him - Blanca took Ash to the library. They’d had to ask permission, of course, and Ash had stood next to Blanca when Blanca had asked Golzine for a day out.

“The library?” Golzine had puffed on his cigar and put his newspaper down on the table. “I can have any book you need for the boy’s training brought in.”

“This isn’t so much for a particular book, but for a lesson in information gathering. It’s an important skill he ought to master.” Blanca smiled at Golzine, but it was no more than a mask. Emotions were useful and it suited Blanca to have Golzine think he was friendly. “Of course we will also get a few books for his education while we’re there. I thought something on Alexander the Great might be productive.”

Golzine looked at Ash, who had deliberately made himself look as cool and impassive as possible, to give the impression that he really didn’t care one way or the other what Golzine decided. Golzine had finally nodded. “Very well. Spend the day out, if you like. I’ll have Gregory drive you.”

Ash tensed at Blanca’s side.

“No need,” Blanca refused with a smile. “Ash can practice his people observation skills if we take the train into the city.”

And so they ended up at the doors of the New York Public Library. Ash openly gawked at the stone lions at the entrance and was silent when they walked in. Ash stared at the huge room full of reading tables. They took nearly an hour to simply wander around and look at the stacks. Ash dragged his fingers over the bindings of books here and there, but he made no move to take any book off the shelves. He didn’t say a word. For a short time, they just watched the people in the large reading room with Ash half-way hiding behind Blanca in a an extremely rare show of nerves.

“Ash?”

“It’s really quiet in here,” Ash noted.

“It is. Do you want to stay? We have a whole day.”

Ash nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I wanna stay. Lemme go get a book or something.” But he didn’t move. He looked around at the books lining the room and then back into the main stacks of the library. “What can I get? Can I just take something?”

So Blanca spent some time explaining how a library worked and then took Ash to pick a book. Ash went straight to a history book, a large book about the Crimean War, and while Blanca appreciated the topic, he had earlier noticed Ash looking at the section of children’s books. Those books were far below Ash’s reading level, but Blanca had promised Ash a fun day, not an intellectually stimulating one. “Do you want to go in there?” He asked, pointing at the children’s section.

“It’s for kids.” It wasn’t really a refusal.

“You can go in, if you like. No one’s here but you and I.”

Ash slowly put down the history book and began to walk towards the children’s section. He paused before going in. There were other children in there. Small children with their parents and older kids looking at novels. Ash looked up at Blanca. “If Gregory had come, he’d have told Dino I wasn’t studying.”

“And that’s why you tensed when the Monsieur said Gregory would drive us.”

Ash nodded. “He’s like a spy. He tells Dino everything.” Then Ash walked in and stared all around until his eyes fell on an old copy of “The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood” and he looked at Blanca. “You’re sure it’s alright? I don’t need kid’s books, ya know.”

“I know, but today you can.”

Ash took the book and spent several hours reading, sitting at Blanca’s side at one of the long tables in the reading room. Every now and again, he would look around, as if he expected some unpleasant surprise to pop out of thin air. Nothing happened. The day was quiet and peaceful. At one point, when Ash looked around the room, again, Blanca whispered,

“Nothing’s going to happen, Kitten. I’m watching the area and I’ll tell you if anything happens.”

“Why do you call me ‘Kitten’?”

“Because I have heard many people call you everything from a wild cat to a demon. To me you are an adorable kitten testing out his tiny claws. Someday, you may be the most fearsome predator in the jungle, but for now, you are a little kitten.”

Ash frowned. “You’re being weird, again.”

“You’ll have to forgive my weirdness, Kitten. Now, quiet down and read before the librarian yells at us.”

End Memory-

All-in-all, it had been a very enjoyable day. But, there was business to be done. Blanca pulled himself away from happy memories and focused on his hunt. He left the library and went to the last location he’d been able to track Gregory to, a honky-tonk bar named The Salty Bear. It wasn’t a place Gregory would customarily go to, which only made sense about why he was hiding there. He saw Gregory almost at once, despite the bleached blonde hair and clean shaven face. Gregory sat in a dark corner with a drink in front of him that he didn’t even taste. Blanca took a seat at the bar and considered his options. He was going to kill Gregory, there was no question about that, but he couldn’t simply shoot him in the middle of a crowded bar. Well... he could. He’d done it before. It lacked subtly, but it was an option. His preferred option would be to get Gregory away from witnesses and then do what needed to be done. He didn’t even need to torture Gregory as there weren’t any questions he needed answers, though he was curious about how long Gregory would last under torture. He suspected Gregory would last longer than Angie had, but he wasn’t sure how much longer. If he approached Gregory in the bar, it would surely turn into a scene and that wouldn’t do. One didn’t attract attention if one could help it - his trainers had always been strict about that rule, as Blanca had been strict in teaching Ash. Ash hadn’t always remembered that rule. When his emotions got the better of him, he could be as tactful as a jack-hammer, but when he did remember the rule, he could carry it out beautifully. 

“What do you want?” The bartender strolled up to stand in front of Blanca and put a hand on her hip when she spoke, eying him with clear appreciation. 

Her appreciation didn’t surprise Blanca. He knew that, subjectively speaking, he was attractive. He’d been designed to be attractive. In his youth, his trainers had put him through cosmetic surgery to ensure that he was as attractive as possible and his own hard work at fine-tuning his body had finished the job. So he smiled at the woman and leaned forward a little. “I confess, looking at you has made all thoughts of drinking fade from my mind.”

She turned red. “I’m married.”

“Married women are beautiful, too.”

She laughed, then, and went to serve another customer.

For less than ten minutes, he turned his thoughts back to Gregory and what to do about him. He took note of the plastic bag on Gregory’s lap, the one Yut-Lung had told him about that held the metal suitcase. He’d have to take that as soon as he killed Gregory. An execution might work. Simple, quick, and clean. An accident would be better if he could just find the right opportunity or, better still, manufacture the right opportunity.

The problem of how to get Gregory out of the bar was solved when Gregory answered his phone. He spoke for just a few seconds, then got up and quietly walked out of the bar. Blanca left a generous tip on the bar simply because he’d liked the bartender and followed Gregory. He had to keep his distance. Gregory had no instincts to speak of, but he wasn’t entirely stupid and kept pausing to check his surroundings and there was the chance that he might spot Blanca. In the end, Gregory went to Chinatown to an all night diner where he took a seat by the window and stared out at the street. Again, Blanca was forced to wait. He needed Gregory to be alone. So, Blanca slipped into the alley across the street from the diner and waited. It was good that Blanca was a patient man as he ended up watching Gregory all night. Gregory didn’t do anything, he just settled down in his spot and stayed there. 

The next morning, as the sun was rising, Ash came strolling down the sidewalk with a man walking just behind him. While Gregory stared intently at Ash, he made no move to pull out a gun or knife or any other kind of weapon. He didn’t even leave the diner. Blanca looked back at Ash and saw him step into a restaurant called The Chang Dai. He remembered, then.

Memory-

Ash had said, “He was good.”

“High praise.” It hadn’t been sarcasm. Ash rarely ever had anything nice to say about anyone, so the fact that he would praise a boy he’d met in juvenile detention was memorable.

“Yeah, you’d have liked him; he was really tough.” Ash raised the rifle up to his shoulder and looked down the sight to the target. He squeezed off three shots, all acceptable shots, though one had landed just on the edge of the red bulls-eye and earned Ash a light smack on the back of his hand. He took his discipline without a word then smiled at Blanca. “His head was totally bald and he stuck up for me. Everyone there was scared of him.” He had real admiration in his voice and Blanca treasured the easy smile Ash showed him. No one else ever got that smile and even Blanca didn’t get it when there was any chance that other people might see. So it was only on the shooting range, located far at the back of Dino Golzine’s property, surrounded on all sides by a thick barrier of trees, that Ash showed his true smile. Ash took another shot with the rifle and hit the target, a perfect bulls-eye, and that earned him a pat on the head. “He said he’s got a sister he lives with and she’s super nice. They’re not far, not really. You could get to his place from here in no time.”

“Subtly, Ash. You’re being too obvious that you want to have a play date.”

“It’s not a play date! I’m not four!” His ire burned off as quickly as it had flared up. “I just... I could visit. Dino wouldn’t have to know. Shorter lives at his family’s restaurant in Chinatown. The Chang Dai.”

End Memory-

Blanca watched with a frown while Gregory stared at the restaurant Ash had gone into. A sharp glint of light from a high building nearby caught Blanca’s attention. Blanca looked back at Gregory, eager and tense. He thought about what he knew of Ash and the whole situation in general and realized that Gregory had set a trap and Ash had stepped into it.

He left his hiding spot and raced to the building he’d seen the light from. He knew what the light had been- sunlight reflected off glass, possibly glass in the scope of a rifle. He didn’t bother going inside the building, but went to the back where a fire escape went right from the ground to the roof. He started climbing and, half-way up the building he heard a shot. Blanca had images of Ash jerking from being hit and falling to the floor. That image roused angry fire in Blanca’s gut, which he had to push away, least it cause him to act without thinking. He climbed faster. When he was just at the top of the building, he heard another shot. The air was filled with noise as people on the streets were yelling and running. As soon as Blanca’s hand landed on the top of the fire escape he peered over the edge and saw three men. Two of them were dead. One stood over them. He wore a decent suit and held a handgun with a silencer on the barrel. The dead men were sprawled on the roof, a rifle lay on the ground between them. Blanca watched when the unknown man turned and left the rooftop. 

The stranger had just left the bodies behind and Blanca contemptuously thought, ‘Sloppy and unprofessional.’

Seconds later, someone else arrived, but that man Blanca recognized. Clint Barton, A.K.A. Hawkeye of The Avengers. Blanca made a point to know his competitors and Hawkeye had been well-known and highly respected in certain circles for years. An admirable shot, even by Blanca’s high standards. Hawkeye stayed only a moment before he, too, left.

Blanca had much to consider about the situation, but Gregory was still on the streets below and needed to be dead. Gregory was gone by the time Blanca got down to the street. A shame, but not the end of the world. Blanca knew Ash was staying with The Avengers and, now, so did Gregory. A smile itched at Blanca’s lips as he thought about the coming hunt.

His cell phone vibrated silently in his pocket and Blanca answered. “Hello?”

“Blanca, you need to come here.”

“Good morning, Mister Yut-Lung. How are you?”

“Miserable! Someone just told me everything is in chaos on the streets, everyone’s in a panic. Someone just shot at The Chang Dai and Sing nearly had a fit. He took off on his motorcycle. If he gets shot I won’t have my best minion!”

Blanca grinned. Moody, bratty Yut-Lung was just as adorable as precious Ash. And Sing, trying so hard to be more grown-up than he really was, never failed to make Blanca smile. Such cute children. “If you’re worried about Sing, it’s alright to say that.”

Yut-Lung spluttered. “I am NOT worried! Oh, this is just too much.” Blanca could almost see Yut-Lung being dramatic all over the the place, waving his arm and stomping about as he spoke. “First Sing gets drunk because his brother died and I really don’t know why he’s upset about that, then I get some bothersome visit because someone saw that Gregory sneaking around and being suspicious, then I get a phone call from some woman who wants to do business with my vegetable of a brother and I’ve never even heard of her. Fan said she’s called Thema Shehata and she did business with Wang-Lung and with Golzine, so she’s probably a bit unsavory.”

Blanca’s eyebrows rose at the name. Of course he knew the names of the Council members of the World Security Council. And one of them had been doing business with the Lee family and Golzine? The World Security Council controlled S.H.I.E.L.D. who worked very closely with The Avengers who were keeping Ash safe. Interesting.

Yut-Lung continued with his despair, “And now we’ve run out of tea! There isn’t a single tea leaf in the house and Fan went to get tea bags at a store. Do tea leaves come in bags? And now Sing went and ran off into the middle of a riot or something and if Nadia Wong gets hurt Sing’s going to cry, again!”

It almost made Blanca laugh. “Now, now. Calm down. Sing is upset because he loved his brother - some people do, even if you didn’t. Learning that Gregory was around with that metal suitcase was very good information. Miss Wong is fine, I’m in Chinatown right now and I’m looking at her restaurant. She isn’t hurt, just a little shaken. Why don’t I come over and you can have Fan tell me all about Thema Shehata?”

Clint-

From the angle the bullets had come into the Chang Dai, Clint could easily tell where the shooter must have been. The trajectory could be followed back to only one logical source and Clint followed that with his eyes until he found the correct rooftop. It only took a minute or so for Clint to get to the spot where he knew the shots had come from and when he arrived, there were bodies. Two freshly killed men, blood still oozing from gunshot wounds to their heads, lay on the flat rooftop. He didn’t recognize them, but the rifle on the ground near them was enough proof of what they’d been up to. He looked around cautiously, but didn’t see anyone else and didn’t see any other clues about who’d killed the two men.

Two dead men. Assassins. It was somehow offensive to Clint, a professional assassin, that two men had been attempting to kill Ash. Two of them. They couldn’t have been professions or there would have only been one. Clint stared down at the corpses for a time, studying every detail. Suits and ties, polished shoes. They were finely dressed assassins, but to have missed such an easy shot... they were certainly not professionals. He turned from the bodies and looked down at the Chang Dai. From the rooftop, he could see it easily. He saw people from the street rush in and he saw the shattered window the assassins had shot through. His excellent vision was able to easily see where Ash and Miss Wong had been sitting. He wouldn’t have missed the shot.

He knelt next to the assassins and, with his gloves on, hunted through their pockets. They had driver’s licenses in their wallets and I.D. badges that identified them as C.I.A. agents. It all looked legit. 

Clint tapped the small transceiver in his ear. “Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S.?”

“Yes, Clint?”

“I’ve got a situation. Is Phil available?”

“Yes. Please hold.”

A moment passed before Phil’s voice sounded in his ear. “Clint. Status?”

“Hey, Phil. Everything’s calm, now. Just had a couple of men shooting at Ash. They went and damaged the restaurant Ash was in and almost hit the owner, but she and Ash are both fine. The owner’s a little shaken up. I went to where the shooters were and I found them both dead. They have I.D. that says they’re both C.I.A. agents. I don’t like this. Someone else shot them - one bullet in each head.”

“I’ll send a team from S.H.I.E.L.D. over there right away to get clean up done. Any idea who the third shooter was?”

“Nope. No sign of them here that I can find. Might want to send over a forensic investigator, too, in case I missed something. I’ve got to get back to the kid. I don’t like this.” His nerves felt as if they were on fire, he felt jumpy and on edge. There was a third person willing to kill and he had no idea whether or not that third person was aiming for Ash or trying to help.

“I’ll send someone else to help. Stay where you are.”

“Yes, sir.”

Satisfied that the immediate threat had been dealt with, though not satisfied with how it had been dealt with, he left the rooftop and headed back to where he’d left Ash and Nadia. Clint walked in just in time to hear Ash say,

“I’ll be okay. I think they’re gone, anyway. Just stay down.” Ash peered over the edge of the table and spotted Clint at once. He stood up. “It’s okay, Nadia. It’s safe, now.” He gave Nadia hand to help her up. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. Just... no one’s ever attacked my home.” She was pale and, for a moment, held onto Ash’s hand. She looked at the shattered glass on the floor and then at what used to be the window. “Oh, dear. Shorter would be so upset.” 

Ash snorted. “Shorter would have been swearing blue thunder and gone hunting for whoever thought it would be a good idea to shoot anywhere near you.” He, too, looked around at the mess on the floor and the destroyed window. His shoulders were tensed. “Damn it. Sorry about this, Nadia. I shouldn’t have come here. Of all the stupid times for me to be without a weapon. Sorry I pushed you.”

“I’d rather get a few bruises than a bullet in the back of my head.” She patted his hand and gave him a little smile. Then, she looked at Clint and bowed her head. “Thank you for your help.”

Clint might have said something in reply, but at that moment people began to rush into the Chang Dai demanding to know if Nadia was alright. Ash put a hand to his side, but his expression remained still enough that Clint wasn’t entirely sure if Ash’s wound was troubling him or not. It seemed impossible that he wasn’t in pain as he was refusing pain medication, but Clint couldn’t tell that from Ash’s expression.

When the noise grew to uncomfortable levels, Nadia put both hands up in the air and raised her voice a little as she said, “Please, everyone, I’m fine. No one got hurt, thankfully. I just need to sweep the floor and put some plastic over the window. Don’t worry.” And she gently shepherded everyone out and closed the door behind them.

When all was quiet, again, Ash righted the table Clint had earlier turned over and picked up the photo album from where it had fallen on the floor. He put it on the table and said to Nadia, “Someone took the photo and used it to doctor Club Cod’s roster. They wanted me to find it.”

“That seems like a lot of effort.”

“Yeah.” Ash looked outside, again. “It sure does. They added his picture to the roster and then put it in Dino’s database so the cops could find it. Someone who’s very good with computers is trying to get my attention. It’s someone who knows me, who knows I was tight with Shorter. They’d have known I’d come here and they staked out the place, waiting. Shorter’s picture was the bait and I took it. They lured me here and waited nearby to take those shots. Damn bold. Whoever it was didn’t care about pissing off everyone in Chinatown. Who? Who’d do this?”

‘It’s too much intrigue for a kid,’ Clint thought. But he thought back to his own life and what he knew of Natasha’s early life. He thought about what all his team mates had lived through, or what he knew about - he strongly suspected that most of his team mates weren’t entirely forthcoming with everything that had happened to them - and sadly thought there was too much danger all around.

Clint said to Ash, “I need to get you back to the Tower, but we’re waiting for reinforcements. I found two people who were shooting on the top of a building. They’re both dead, but it’s possible that more danger may be around as someone else had shot the both of them.” He shook his head, ruefully. “Kid, you seem to be neck deep in a conspiracy.” It was exactly what Phil had feared and Clint wasn’t surprised. Phil always seemed to know the way of things. 

The roar of a motorcycle grabbed everyone’s attention and they all turned to look out at the street. The crowd made way just before a red motorcycle pulled up in front of the restaurant. Clint recognized the rider. Ash had called him Sing, the brother of a man Ash had killed, the man who’d tried to kill Ash. Sing was even younger and smaller than Ash. His face was twisted with anger when he glanced at Chang Dai’s window.

“Oh, dear,” Nadia said, softly. “He shouldn’t be out, he should be resting. I’m sure he’s still upset about his brother.”

Sing marched into the restaurant. “What happened?!” Sing looked unhappy and tired and... he looked hung over. “You alright, Sissy?”

Nadia answered, “I’m fine. No one’s hurt.” All the same, she went to Sing and wrapped him in a hug. He returned it without hesitation. “Thank you for thinking of me.”

“Thinking of you? It’s all over town that someone took a couple of pot-shots at Chang Dai.”

Clint winced. He disliked things going badly on his watch and this little outing had not gone at all well. “I am sorry for the trouble, Miss Nadia. We’ll see that your place gets fixed up just like new.”

“She already has help,” Sing grumbled while he looked around at the mess. “I’ve got this. I’ll have it taken care of.” Then he looked at Ash. “I’ll have some of my guys hang around for the next few days, just in case. Look, we need to talk, Ash.” He didn’t look happy about it, but Clint didn’t think he’d have to worry about Sing hitting Ash, like he had at the hospital. The kid looked pretty in control of himself.

“Agreed.” Ash motioned to one of the tables, apparently completely calm at sitting down for a chat in the same seat he’d almost been killed in only moments ago. 

“No,” Sing waved his hand. “Not there. Too many people around.” He gave Clint a suspicious look. “Outsiders don’t need to hear.”

“Right.” Ash went to Nadia and, instead of hugging her as Sing had done, he put a hand on her forearm and gave it a squeeze. “I really am sorry about this.” He turned and headed for the door, but stopped when Nadia caught his arm. “What is it?”

She smiled, rather sadly. “Wait here. Just a minute. Please.” Then she left the room.

“So, Sing,” Ash stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against a table. “Does Nadia know who you’re hanging with? What he did?”

“She knows I’m helping out the new guy in charge and unless you want to hurt her, that’s all she’ll know!”

Clint wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but it sounded like a real soap opera. He didn’t have time for that kind of drama - he needed to get Ash somewhere safe so they could look for whoever had shot the two assassins. He kept looking out the window, looking for his backup and wasn’t sure he wanted to leave the shelter of the Chang Dai without someone else to keep an eye on Ash.

When Nadia returned, she brought with her a small bundle wrapped in white cloth. She went to stand in front of Ash and, for a moment, was silent. She looked at the white bundle in her hands, then held it out to Ash. “Shorter would want you to have this.”

Ash took it and pulled the white fabric away to reveal a knife. It was very plain - a straight blade, perhaps eight inches long, with an unadorned handle. It meant something, to all three of them. Ash, Sing, and Nadia all stared at the knife with grief, anger, and love.

“How did you get it?” Sing asked. His voice cracked.

“It was delivered. I don’t know by who, but I found it like that - wrapped in white and sitting on Shorter’s bed.”

Both Ash and Sing looked alarmed and Clint, too, was shocked by Nadia’s calm answer. Ash said, “Someone broke in and you didn’t tell anyone? Damn it, they could have hurt you!”

“They returned Shorter’s knife. They brought part of him home. I don’t think they had any intention of hurting me.” She met Ash’s eyes. “Will you take it? He wouldn’t have wanted you to be unarmed.”

“Yeah. Sure. I’ll take care of it. But you call someone if you think people have been creeping around in here!”

“I will.”

Nadia produced a sheath for the knife attacked to a shoulder holster which Ash hung on himself over his sweatshirt. He looked entirely too comfortable with being armed, but Clint could understand it. He sure never felt quite right if he didn’t have some kind of a weapon on him at all times. Again, Ash gave Nadia’s forearm a squeeze and, though she looked like she would rather hug him, Nadia returned the gesture.

He would mention it to Phil. The gesture reminded him of Natasha. She wouldn’t hug or even touch people unless it was in the pursuit of a mission. Instead, she stuck to verbal greetings and, if she especially liked someone, handshakes. She didn’t seem to mind touching Clint and she was getting used to the rest of the team, but other than that, she much preferred not touching people. He knew about her past, she spoke about the stuff she’d gone through from time-to-time, but it still surprised him to see similarities between Ash and Natasha. He also appreciated that Nadia actively tried to make Ash comfortable.

It was with a troubled expression that Ash said, “I really am sorry about this and about leaving you with the mess, but I don’t want to make more trouble by hanging around too long. You really shouldn’t be alone for a while, though. I don’t want anything to happen to you. Why don’t you come with me? I’ve already blackmailed these guys,” he jerked an unrepentant thumb towards Clint. “Into letting Max’s family go into protection. I can do it for you, too.”

“I told you,” Sing said. “She’s not going to be alone. I’ll leave some of my guys here and- ”

The door slammed open and, to Clint’s surprise, Detective Charlie Dickinson rushed in. He didn’t say a word before he ran to Nadia and gathered her up in a tight embrace. “Are you alright? I heard... and... I thought...” Detective Dickinson broke off and pulled away long enough to look at Nadia. He gently touched her face. “I got here as fast as I could. God... if anything had happened to you...”

“I’m fine,” Nadia assured him. “I promise. Everyone’s fine. Thank you for coming.” The smile she gave him was as warm as a summer morning.

Ash looked back and forth between the two, a completely baffled expression on his face. “What...?”

“They’ve been dating for months,” Sing told him. “Come on, genius, you didn’t know?”

Detective Dickinson blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I was meaning to tell you, Ash, but you’ve been stressed and I didn’t want to complicate things for you.”

Ash’s shoulders slumped. “How did I miss this?” He stepped up close to Detective Dickinson, until they were almost nose-to-nose, and grumbled, “Be nice!” It was a threat if Clint had ever heard one. Ash then turned and headed for the door, until Clint stepped in his path. “What?”

“Did you forget about the back up?”

“I’m not making Nadia more of a target by hanging around waiting for your backup. ‘Sides, those guys are dead.” 

“It’s the one who shot those guys I’m worried about.”

“Why? They did me a favor.”

Clint prided himself on his professionalism, almost as much as Natasha did. He was very good at his job. So rankled him when he couldn’t do his job to the best of his ability, as in that moment when Ash refused to do what Clint thought was best and, really, there was nothing Clint could do about it. Ash left the Chang Dai and Sing went with him. They walked together and, as Clint observed from behind, the people on the sidewalk parted before them, respectfully giving them a wide berth.

Sing cast a suspicious look at Clint over his shoulder but spoke to Ash. “Maybe your babysitter can go take a break, Ash. We got business to talk about.”

Clint laughed. “Sorry, short-stack, but I’m on guard duty today and I don’t leave my post.”

Sing didn’t look happy. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jacket and, for a few moments, just walked. “You know who did this?”

“Yup,” Ash answered. “The babysitter found them on top of a building. Like I said, they’re dead. Now I just gotta find out if someone was pulling the strings or if they were acting alone.” Ash gave Sing a stern look out of the corner of his eye. “Your new boss wouldn’t have anything to do with this?”

Sing snorted. “Yut-Lung has enough problems without getting the whole neighborhood in an uproar by targeting Nadia. He’s not that stupid. Look, he told me he had a visitor earlier. I was drunk off my butt, so I don’t remember anything, but he said there was this old man from the neighborhood who said he saw Dino’s guy, Gregory, picking up a package in the park left by some cop. Fan - that’s Yut-Lung’s assistant - said the cop’s dirty and has been for ages. According to the guy who saw Gregory in the park, what Gregory picked up was a metal suitcase.”

Ash stopped walking. He closed his eyes and Clint could almost swear he heard the gears turning in Ash’s head. “You sure?”

“The old man was Feng Gao. I know him; he’s honest. You think...?”

“I’ll look into it and get back to you. Go look after Nadia. Oh,” He pulled another envelope, identical to the one he’d given Nadia, earlier, and handed it to Sing. “That’s for you and your guys. Divide it evenly and give everyone who fought an equal share.” He gave Sing a flat stare. “A good Boss would also give an equal share to the families of the guys who got killed.”

“Yeah, yeah. I got it.” He opened the envelope and froze. He swallowed hard. “What...?”

“Ask Nadia. Just take it, will ya?” He put a hand on the knife Nadia had given him. “I already took care of Nadia. She’ll be set for the rest of her life.”

“Good.” Sing stuck the envelope in his pocket. “You gonna give something to Cain, too?”

“Of course.”

The two boys stood there for a moment, quiet, and let the other people on the sidewalk move around them - two stones in the middle of a river. Finally, Sing said, “Look, never mind any beef between you and me. If that suitcase has in it what I think it does, then we got a problem. I don’t want that stuff being brought back; that stuff killed Shorter. How much do they know?” He looked significantly at Clint, before asked Ash, “You gonna talk about it in court?”

Ash sullenly looked at his feet. “Max thinks I should.”

“Right. I got stuff to take care of. If I hear anything else about IT, I’ll get word to you.”

Ash gave Sing his new cell phone’s number and they parted ways. 

Ash and Clint hadn’t gone more than a dozen steps before a car pulled up beside them and parked. Natasha, with a cheery smile, got out of the car. “Phil said you needed backup.”

“Thanks.” Clint felt such relief to have her around. “I’m going to get a bigger perspective. Take him back to the Tower, will you?”

“I can take myself back,” Ash groused.

“Don’t fuss,” Natasha grinned at him, as if she would laugh. It was all fake, of course. Clint knew very well that she didn’t display real emotions so openly. “I think your friends are worried about you. Perhaps you should have waited for them before you went out.”

“I don’t need an escort around my city. Bad enough you lot are taking this whole ‘protective custody’ job too seriously.”

Natasha kept smiling, but said, rather severely, “I take ALL my jobs seriously.”

“And what is your job, exactly? Being a hero? Saving the day?”

“No. I kill people.”

Ash regarded her somberly, then nodded. “Yeah. I can see that.” There was no insult in his voice, no disbelief, just acceptance. Clint wondered what Natasha thought of that. Few people except Phil had accepted her so readily. Ash said to her, “So, wanna go see some dead bodies?”

“Sure.”

“Now wait just a minute!” Clint protested. He pointed a finger at Ash, “There are people trying to kill you!”

“Yeah. And? Happens all the time. I wanna see who they were. I might know them. In fact, I probably know them. Besides,” he pointed at himself. “Not a prisoner, remember? I can go where I please.” Without waiting further, he started walking in the direction Clint had left the shooters in. Natasha followed him and Clint, not quite sure how to keep Ash safe when he wouldn’t listen, hurried to catch up.

“Nat, you can’t go along with this.”

“I can’t?”

“Well, you shouldn’t. He’ll be safer at the Tower.”

Natasha stopped walking and looked at Clint seriously. “Are we going to kidnap him? I have handcuffs but I didn’t bring chloroform, today. Will a blow on the head do too much damage? Bruce might get upset if I aggravate the wounds.”

He didn’t really want to know why she was carrying around handcuffs. “No, but... Look, we’re supposed to be keeping him safe.”

With a raised eyebrow, Natasha said, “He is safe. You and I are with him.”

And Clint really couldn’t argue with that.

Ash found the building with the shooters on it without any help and Clint was impressed. There they found the shooters, just as Clint had left them. Ash looked them over carefully, but was sensible enough not to touch anything. “Yeah. I know these jokers. They said they were F.B.I. the last time I saw them.”

“Their badges say C.I.A. and they look real to me.”

Ash didn’t seem at all surprised. “Well, this couldn’t have happened to more deserving people. Those guys lied to the cops and made Max sit through an autopsy he thought was me.” Then Ash wrinkled his nose. “Whoever shot them just left them laying around here?”

“Looks like it,” Clint said.

“Sloppy and unprofessional,” Ash and Natasha said in unison. They looked at each other with surprise. Ash narrowed his eyes at her. Ash said, “I knew someone who used to say that. Leaving evidence just laying around is sloppy and unprofessional.”

“It is something I was taught. A useful rule.”

Ash nodded his agreement. There was nothing else to it and they all headed back to the Tower. Clint went with them back down to the street and they went to Natasha’s car, but he left them there. “I’m going to take the high road.” He gave Natasha a nod and headed for a building where he could climb to the top and watch their progress.

He slipped into an alley and used a building’s fire escape to climb. He used a few window sills as toe holes and shimmied up part of a gutter’s downspout, before he finally reached the top of the building. It was quieter up top, far above the streets of New York. There were birds flying around - a falcon, a small flock of pigeons, two noisy crows. The noise from people and cars and everything else that was apart of the city faded, it didn’t disappear, but it did fade. The higher vantage point gave Clint the opportunity to watch the area around the car for any dangers and, considering traffic and the traffic lights, he was easily able to keep pace with Natasha’s car. He followed their progress, moving from building-to-building as they went along until, at last, they arrived home.

Home. Sometimes, it struck Clint with a profound joy that he had a home. A real home. A small, shy voice in his head, whispered that he also had a family. A real, loving family and that, too, was something new and powerful and just a little frightening. He wondered if Ash would ever have a place he could call home, but, judging from what he’d seen of their guests, he was fairly certain Ash had found a family, even if Ash hadn’t realized it, yet.

Of course, everyone was told what had happened and Max made a phone call to the police to tell them. Ash was roundly scolded by Jessica for leaving the Tower.

“I had a freakin’ Avenger with me!” Ash pointed at Clint. “How much safer do want me, Old Woman?”

“I want you to not get shot at! You almost got killed just because you went outside and that’s wrong!”

Something about that shocked Ash. He awkwardly scuffed his sneaker on the floor. “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Yeah.” Jessica let out a tired sigh and rubbed her face with both hands. “I know. I’m sorry.”

Bruce worried until Ash let him take a look at the wounds to prove he hadn’t started bleeding. “I know how to take care of myself. Relax a little, will ya?” When Bruce pointed out that Ash had, in fact, started to bleeding, again, Ash had looked surprised, but shrugged. “It’s only bleeding a little. It’s not important. Jeeze, I bled more the last time I got a paper cut.”

In the meantime, Phil crossed his arms and was silent. He listened to everything that had happened, his ears perked up at the mention of C.I.A. badges and again when Clint mentioned Sing talking about a metal suitcase delivered to someone who’d worked for Dino Golzine by a supposedly corrupt cop. The mention of a metal suitcase made Max scowl furiously.

After Clint distinctly noticed that Ash didn’t mention a few tiny details to the group he took Phil aside into another room. “Ash is holding back something. That kid, Sing, seemed to think there was something in that mysterious suitcase and the way he was talking, it sounded dangerous. Sing asked if Ash was going to talk about it in court and Ash didn’t look at all happy. He said Max wanted him to talk about it. You ask my opinion and I’d guess Ash was afraid of whatever was in that suitcase. He didn’t say so, but he was afraid the minute that metal suitcase was mentioned. It’s possible Gregory has some kind of weapon in that suitcase or something else that could make our job harder.” He crossed his arms. “I feel like we’re missing information and I don’t like it.”

Phil patted Clint on the arm. “I’ll talk to Max.”

To be continued...


	14. Scissors

Chapter 14: Scissors

Thema Shehata-

Dino Golzine wasn’t at his mansion. She’d gone there first, naturally, and the servant who answered the door refused to let her in, though he knew perfectly well who she was. “Monsieur Golzine is not at home to visitors,” the servant had said, briskly.

“And when might he be at home?”

The servant curled his lip with disdain. “When he pleases to be.” And the door was closed in her face. She stood there on the front step, fuming. She was simply not treated in such a manner, not for years since her rise in the HYDRA ranks. Still, she was a HYDRA agent and had little trouble sneaking into the mansion. It had, as she’d expected, been ransacked by the police. There wasn’t anything helpful in the entire house. She left the mansion and drove to the next likely spot for finding the Banana Fish - the National Institute of Mental Health. She noticed the smoke before she reached the building. It was quite early in the day, but the sky around the institute was nearly filled with plumes of black smoke. The air reeked - a familiar, heavy smell of burning meat.

The facility was in chaos. People running here and there. She saw from her lookout spot, that people ran from the building to a large parking lot behind it and took off, not down the main road in front of the building, but down a narrow dirt road behind the building that led through a dense forest. She watched the people carefully, trying to find some clue that might help her. And then she saw her, a blonde woman running from the back of the institute. She was tall and statuesque, graceful even as she ran through the parking lot. Thema raised her binoculars up to her eyes and got a good look before the woman got into a car and drove quickly away. Thema felt her breath catch momentarily. She knew the face, had seen her working with Doctor Mannerheim on the several occasions she had visited the Institute.

It was good that Thema was more than a mere paper-pusher of a councilwoman. She left her position, running. She knew the direction the road took and she knew the blonde woman had been the last one to leave the parking lot, which meant there would be no cars following. She easily cut through the forest and, at a bend in the road, she stopped and waited. In seconds, she heard the car approaching. Thema stepped into the middle of the road, where she waved her arms wildly until the approaching car slowed to a stop. The driver, Nurse Barbara, got out, her panicked eyes wide. She was a beautiful young woman and obviously intelligent as she had been, Thema remembered, Doctor Mannerheim’s head nurse and assisted him in all things - including the development of the Banana Fish drug.

“Madam Shehata? What are you doing here?”

“I was coming to visit,” Thema said as she made her way closer to the woman with seeming nonchalance. “I saw everyone speeding away and the incinerator going like mad. What’s going on, Barbara?”

“Oh, it’s awful. It’s terrible. Everything’s ruined. Someone told the police what was happening here, we had to destroy everything.”

Thema went cold. She put both hands on the young woman’s arms. “Everything?”

“Everything! All the research, all the samples, everything Doctor Mannerheim had here had to be destroyed.”

“And the Banana Fish?” Her throat was dry, painful with her own rising frenzy. “Where is the Banana Fish? There must be something left.”

“No. It’s burned. Everything. Doctor Mannerheim’s dead, we heard it on the news the other day, and no one could get in contact with Mister Golzine. We didn’t know what else to do. There’s an inside man on the police department and he told us Mister Golzine is being investigated and he said the trail is leading straight here!”

Thema thought of the incinerators belching out their smoke like a volcano ready to blow. She felt like a volcano ready to blow. Gone. It was gone? “You burned the Banana Fish? The research?”

“Everything! Everything went in the incinerator.”

“And you don’t know of anyone else who might have any of the information?”

“What does that matter? We have to...” Barbara trailed off as she seemed to think of something. “Doctor Mannerheim once complained that Mister Golzine always came here with his bodyguards. Doctor Mannerheim couldn’t get even a moment to speak with Mister Golzine alone. He said Mister Golzine trusted his bodyguards more than anyone else in the world, so I suppose if Mister Golzine had given anyone information it would have been them... but oh! We need to get out of here. If the police- ”

Thema shot her. Nurse Barbara looked surprised and even had time to look down at the gun in Thema’s hand. She blinked at Thema, delicious fear in her eyes, then died and fell. Thema made certain, of course. She checked for a pulse and found nothing, then stood up, put her gun back in its holster and started to walk away, her mind racing with what could be done. She remembered the bodyguards, always hovering around Golzine. He’d called them Angie and Gregory.

Phil-

It was still early when Phil’s cell phone rang. Clint. Clint told him about the shooting in Chinatown, about dead C.I.A. agents, and an unknown killer on the loose. He was not, to be entirely honest, happy. A great many things made him not happy, but putting his team in danger made him the most unhappy. After he’d hung up with Clint, he cleaned up his breakfast and went to work. After sending Natasha out to meet Clint, he made a phone call to Nick Fury.

“This better be good.”

“Good morning, Nick. Ash Lynx just got shot at. Clint’s on guard now and I sent Natasha over to help get Ash back to the Tower.”

Fury was quiet for a moment. “Damn it, Phil, why’d you let him out of the Tower in the first place? That was the whole point of protective custody - to keep him safe. Just keep him in the Tower.”

“It was one of his conditions about accepting protection - to be able to come and go as he pleases. I have the distinct impression that if we try to enforce him staying in the Tower, he will find a way out and we won’t find him until this is all over. Clint just reported that the would-be assassins are dead, so I’ll need a clean up crew over there I’m sure the police will be in the area soon, it sounds as if this whole thing grabbed a lot of attention, so residents have probably already called the police for help. I just wanted to keep you abreast, but I think things are still under control. I’m going to find out why the C.I.A. might wish harm upon our house guest.”

“Do you need me to talk to them?”

“Oh, don’t trouble yourself. I have a few contacts in the C.I.A. and I’m sure they’ll talk to me.” 

His contact happened to be the C.I.A. director, but the phone call was far less than helpful. The director knew nothing, though he promised to investigate to find out what his two agents had been up to.

When Phil hung up the phone, J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “Phil, you have a message. Max wished me to inform you that Ash’s lawyer, Mister George Scott, is expected this morning to discuss his case. I told Max that Ash went out early with Clint, but he has no doubt Ash will return in time.”

Phil thanked J.A.R.V.I.S and began some of his normal paperwork. It always seemed to build up and just having Ash as their guest didn’t make his S.H.I.E.L.D. work disappear. The early morning went well and all was quiet. At eight o’clock, Phil sat in the common room reading his newspaper while Max paced at the large window and, every now and then, looked down at the street below. He agitation increased by the minute. “Why does that kid try to do everything alone?” Max grumbled at one point.

“You’re the one who told me he was independent.”

“Yeah. Yeah. I swear, I start sweating every time he gets out of my sight. He attracts danger, I think.” Max ran both hands over his head and looked down to the street, again. “Clint is really as good as you said he is?”

“He’s just about the best shot in the world and he and Natasha WILL have Ash back here any minute. You really don’t have to worry.”

“I don’t stop worrying about him.” Max gave a self-conscious laugh. “Don’t tell Ash. I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate it.”

Phil let it go. He didn’t see where it was a bad thing to worry and Ash clearly needed people to care for him, but it really wasn’t his place to interfere. 

Soon enough, everyone was awake and having breakfast. Even little Michael had woken up and was sitting with his mother at the table, waiting while she cut up a banana for his cereal. Steve was talking to Michael, a very serious discussion as Michael explained about Transformers and why they were better than any other kind of robots. Tony had to get involved then and tried to convince Michael that there were no better robots than the ones Tony made, but Michael disagreed as Tony had never made a Transformer. Tony apparently took that as a challenge. Bruce kept out of their conversation, but instead talked with Jessica about how best to help Ash heal.

“You wouldn’t know he was hurt from the way he runs around,” Bruce said. “It’s really not good for him. He’s going to hurt himself even worse. He’s pushing himself too hard. He needs sleep and food.”

“I know. It’s hard for him to slow down. He’s been too alone for too long, too used to taking care of himself. Just you try to convince him that the world won’t fall down if he takes a nap.” She laughed, but there wasn’t much humor in it. “Max said he’s healing well.”

“He is. In fact, he’s healing remarkably quickly, but it was a very serious wound. I’m worried for him.”

“You and me both.”

And then Ash returned with Clint and Natasha leading the way. He was pale, Phil noted, and looked exhausted. Natasha spoke very calmly as she explained what she knew before Clint told his part of the story. Then, Clint took Phil aside and told Phil that he was convinced that Ash was afraid of what was in some suitcase that had been taken by one of Dino Golzine’s men, Gregory, who was at large. That other boy from a Chinatown gang also seemed afraid of it. Phil really would have to talk to Max and see if Max knew anything. 

Ash just shrugged. “Got shot at. No one’s hurt.” He paused, thoughtfully. “Except the shooters; they’re dead.” Ash said it as if it didn’t matter. He went to the large window in the common room and stared down at the city. His expression was still, but there was a tense set to his shoulders that spoke clearly enough about stress and agitation.

Max said, “Come on, kid, why don’t you come eat? You must be half-starved.” He had taken in Ash’s story of gunfire, dead C.I.A. agents, and a fearsome metal suitcase, with hardly a blink. Instead, he ushered Ash to the kitchen table where, just before Ash, Clint, and Natasha had returned to the Tower, everyone had been sitting down to eat. They sat together because even though the table had only been big enough for The Avengers team the day before, Tony liked the idea of family style meals and had bought a bigger table when he realized he had four more people to feed. “They’ve got about anything you could want here. Take your pick.” He motioned to the large selection set out on the table - everything from cold cereal to bacon and eggs to scones.

Ash wrinkled his nose. “I’ve got things to do.”

Bruce slammed his fist on the table. “That’s enough!”

Everyone jumped at the uncharacteristic outburst.

“No.” Bruce held up both hands in a ‘surrender’ gesture. “No. I’m sorry. That was rude. I’m sorry.” He took a breath, then calmly said, “Ash, you need to stop. I can understand it’s hard, I really do. When you’re used to taking care of everything yourself, it can feel like the whole world is closing in on you when even one thing goes wrong, like you can’t stop to even catch your breath because if you do you’re going to get hurt or someone else is going to get hurt. I really do understand. But you need to stop. You need to let other people worry and you need to take care of yourself.” Bruce put up both hands to cover his face and let out a long, slow breath. “You need to eat and sleep, that will fuel your healing so you’ll be strong enough to do what you want to do. If you don’t let yourself heal, you are going to do yourself permanent damage and then you’re really going to be helpless. Do you want that?”

Ash blinked, stunned. Then his eyes narrowed. “I’ll make you a deal, doc. If Max can get me some stuff, I’ll take it easy.”

“What kind of stuff?” Max asked. He sat next to Jessica and stole a piece of bacon off her plate.

Ash fished a handful of cash out of his pocket and held it out to Max. “That’s two hundred bucks. Get me a drone with a camera attached.” He named the model he wanted and told Max where to buy it. Then he said, “Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S., can you make it so I can watch what the drone’s camera sees?”

“Very easily. Sir will be able to connect me to your camera without any trouble.”

Tony didn’t even look up from his computer pad, typing away on it as he drank from a large mug of coffee. “No sweat. No problem. Easy as pie. I can do you better, though. Don’t spend money on some store bought drone.” He abruptly stood up and strode quickly to the door. “I’ll get you one of mine. Much better. Much more reliable with a lot more power. Loads better range, too. And it’s got a camera already attached and linked to the most incredible J.A.R.V.I.S. so you have to waste time having things connected. Save your money.”

Ash nodded, accepting the offer, though Tony left the room, without waiting for an answer. Phil made a mental note to keep track of Tony’s coffee intake. Ash said to Max, “Then use that money to get me a gun. You promised.”

Something about Ash’s words struck Phil. ‘You promised.’ He wondered how many broken promises had littered Ash’s life and hoped Max wouldn’t be the next person to break a promise.

“I never once asked for your money, kid.” Max pressed the money back into Ash’s hand. “I’ll get you one today.”

Jessica cleared her throat loudly enough that everyone turned to look at her. “If we’re all finished talking about guns and such, it’s time for breakfast. Come eat.”

Ash looked at the table and shook his head. “Not hungry.” And he walked into the common room and sat on the sofa.

Michael had been watching everything very quietly and, when Ash went to sit on the sofa, Michael smiled broadly. He pushed his bowl of cereal away and said, “No thank you, mommy. I’m not hungry.” Then he left the table and went to sit next to Ash, a beaming smile on his face as he looked adoringly up at Ash. “I’m not hungry, just like you.”

It was a telling moment and Phil saw Ash’s mask slip, a little, and show a look of horror. Phil could well guess what had caused it. Michael made no secret of his hero-worship for Ash. He idolized Ash and it was clear that he wanted to be just like his older friend. And he didn’t want to eat because Ash didn’t want to eat. Then Ash’s mask went back up and he stood up, taking Michael’s hand. “I changed my mind,” Ash told Michael. “I could eat something.” He cast a warning look at Jessica. “Something small.” Then he gave Michael’s hand a squeeze. “Come on, let’s go finish breakfast.” Back at the table, Michael happily offered his cereal to Ash and said they could share. Ash looked at the sugary cereal and turned pale. “I can’t eat that. Sorry kid, but... I can’t.”

Michael turned those big blue eyes up to Ash. “Want peanut butter toast instead? Mommy makes it for breakfast, sometimes.”

“No. Thanks, though.” He took a single piece of buttered toast Jessica offered him. Without a word, she also handed him a small glass of orange juice. Ash ate standing up then drank the juice, but he didn’t look as if he were getting any pleasure from it.

When he finished the toast, Jessica told him, “A little more, please, Ash We talked about this and you know Doctor Banner is right.”

Max looked confused. “Talked about what? What did I miss? What’s the big deal about food all of a sudden?”

“Just something Ash and I are working on. Never you mind.” Jessica stared at Ash until he slowly went to the refrigerator and looked in. For a moment he looked frozen, as if there were simply too much to chose from. Then he reached in a pulled out a bottle of milk. He held it up, obviously showing it to Jessica. She smiled. “Good choice. A full glass, please.”

Ash didn’t look happy. “I’ll try.”

“I’ll help.” Jessica went to Ash and got two glasses out of the cupboard. She had Ash pour a glass for himself and one for her. Then she stood with him and they drank together. It took a while and Ash almost looked like he’d be ill, but he finished the glass the same time Jessica did and she gave him a little nudge with her elbow. “I’m proud of you, Brat.”

Phil felt little alarm bells going on. Ash had said that he ‘couldn’t’ eat the cereal, not that he ‘wouldn’t’. He’d looked sick at the idea of eating peanut butter and toast. Jessica had helped him through something as simple as drinking a glass of milk. He’d refused food on the way to the Tower when his stomach had audibly growled. It seemed clear that, on top of everything else, Ash had an eating disorder.

“Eating a balanced diet is important to health,” Natasha commented. “A body needs appropriate fuel in order to operate at peak efficiency.” It sounded like one of the lessons that had been drummed into her at the Red Room. It was technically correct, though Phil was certain the lesson had been meant as a way for them to keep their weapons operating properly rather than concern for the children’s health.

Ash turned away from her. “Yeah, whatever.”

“Kid,” Max stood up slowly, his eyes never leaving Ash. “Have you been eating?”

Ash rolled his eyes. “I’m fine. Stop worrying, pops.” He slipped away from Max. “I’m tired. I need to sleep.” And he started to walk off, but stopped when Tony returned with the drone he’d promised.

With Ash looking over his shoulder, Tony set everything up and launched the drone off the Tower’s roof. “It’s got a couple of miles range and J.A.R.V.I.S. can see everything the camera does.”

Ash took the controls from Tony and, at Bruce and Max’s urging, went back to bed. Two minutes later, Ash was in bed, but not in the little room he’d originally been given. He was, instead, taken to the room in the suite Max and Jessica had been given. Ash clutched the drone’s remote control and stared at the room.

“If you don’t like it, I can have it redone,” Tony said, frowning at how Ash just stared.

“No.” Ash said, faintly. “It’s... it’s fine. Yeah, it’s just fine.”

The room was nothing fantastic, as Phil could see it. Tony had done his best as he didn’t really know Ash’s taste, but it wasn’t a bad room. The bed was twin-sized with a blue and white quilt on it. There was a bedside table with several books that a teenager might be interested in, novels of this-or-that, though given what Phil had seen of Ash’s intelligence, he was willing to hazard a guess that Ash would prefer something a little more challenging than Harry Potter or Star Wars. There was a slinky on top of the books and Tony had brought in one of his Rubix Cubes. There was a dresser on the wall opposite of the bed and on that was a house plant - a spider plant with long, draping leaves. There was a small television on one wall. There were no windows in the room - a security measure as well as the fact that the room had been a last minute change in plans - but it was brightly lit. There were pictures on the wall - a seascape, some rock star Phil had never heard of, and a movie poster of Frankenstein. The room seemed warm and comfortable, a cozy space.

Tony took a look around the room and then at Ash and Phil saw in Tony’s face the same insecurity that Tony had tried to hide that day when he’d invited all The Avenger’s to live with him. “Well?” Tony asked, at last. “Is it alright?”

Ash nodded. “I haven’t been in a room like this in a long time.” He looked behind them at the door and his eyes flickered upward to a small sliding bolt near the top of the door and an indescribable emotion flashed across his face at the sight of the lock. “Thanks. Really... thanks.” He pulled that emotion back into himself and sat on the bed, all cool and reserved. “So, J.A.R.V.I.S., can you let me see what the drone’s doing now?”

A large holographic image appeared on one empty wall, a view of the city from above. “The drone is currently hovering. You may take over control when you wish. Do you need instruction about how to use the controller?”

“No.” Ash confidently examined the drone’s controller. “I got this.” He looked around the room. “I don’t need an audience.”

Outside Ash’s room, Tony said, “What’s he doing with the drone, J.A.R.V.I.S.?”

“He’s moving it through the city. He appears to be methodically going through each street, as if he’s looking for something.”

Phil and Tony exchanged a puzzled look, but Phil decided that so long as Ash was quiet and resting, all was good. 

Later-

Ash’s lawyer, Mister George Scott, showed up near lunchtime and was let into the home of The Avengers with an awed look on his face that was all too familiar on the faces of civilians who met The Avengers for the first time. He was not the most cut-throat looking lawyer Phil had ever seen. He was rather average height and carried a few too many pounds. His hair and beard were very curly, almost to the point of being fluffy. He wore a suit that looked as if it had been bought several years earlier - clean, but well-worn - and the suitcase he carried had certainly seen better days. Phil liked him. His face was open and friendly and he shook hands warmly with both Max and Jessica and then with all Phil’s team before he looked at Ash with a deep frown. He walked over to Ash and said, “So, Max tells me you’ve been busy since I last saw you. And you jumped bail on me!”

“Sorry.”

George Scott reached up a hand up and ruffled Ash’s hair. “Don’t do it again, kid. Now, let’s get down to work. Are you feeling well enough for all this? I can come back another time.”

“No,” Ash told him. “I want to get working on this.” 

They sat at the kitchen table to talk while Mister Scott filled out paperwork and had Ash sign here and there. Phil noticed, even as he sat with the others in the common room, that Ash read the papers he was signing, something most people didn’t do. They were talking for less than a half-an-hour before J.A.R.V.I.S. announced more visitors for Ash. “Detective Dickinson and Captain Jenkins have arrived.”

“Again?” Bruce said. He sat on the sofa and had been reading, but his brow furrowed with displeasure. “There can’t be anything wrong, now. Ash can’t keep getting upset when he’s supposed to be recovering.”

Max shook his head. “They wouldn’t be here without reason. I’ll go walk them up.”

Phil followed him out of the room. “Do you really think there’s more trouble?”

“Don’t know. Ash won’t thank anyone for trying to shield him, though.”

They were in the elevator when Phi finally asked, “Max, Clint told me Ash seemed upset when Sing had mentioned someone had a metal suitcase. Any idea what that’s about?”

Max looked down at his feet, scowling.

“I just want to help,” Phil said, keeping his voice as soft and neutral as he could. “You know we’re all on your side. My team likes Ash, they want to help him.”

“That suitcase... look, I know you want to help, but Ash doesn’t want to anyone to know what’s in it. I don’t see how it can be helped. With Captain Jenkins and Charlie investigating the National Institute of Mental Health, they’re bound to find some evidence about it, but Ash is determined not to talk about it. It’s something that he just wants to die, but that’s not going to work.” Max chuckled. “Ash is smart. You know that, right? You’ve seen it? He’s a real bright kid. He can get stubborn, though, and this is a tender subject for him. I don’t think he’s thinking real clear about it.”

“And you won’t tell me without his permission?”

“It must seem weird, huh? A grown man taking orders from a kid? I don’t listen to everything he says, you know, but he needs to know someone’s respecting his wishes. It’s all going to come out in the end, one way or the other, but I can’t go behind his back, he’ll see it as a betrayal and I won’t lose his trust.”

“But I need all the information I can in order to keep Ash safe and to keep my team safe.”

“I know. I’ll talk to Ash, see if I can get him to come around. The only thing I can tell you, is we have to keep an eye on him, now.” Max finally looked at Phil, his face deadly serious. “Ash is going to try to leave the Tower and he won’t want anyone trailing him. He’s going to go after Gregory. He’s not going to just lay around resting while Gregory has that suitcase.”

Phil almost laughed. “The drone. That’s why he wanted the drone and he wanted J.A.R.V.I.S. to show him what the drone’s camera was seeing. He’s looking for Gregory.”

Max nodded. “Yup. He was looking at all the streets to find some clue and if he finds it, he’ll be out of here the first moment he gets a chance.”

They brought Captain Jenkins and Detective Dickinson up to the common room where, again, hands were shaken all around before the two police officers sat at the table with Ash and Mister Scott. Captain Jenkins said, “I’m glad you’re here, Mister Scott. Ash, you need to listen to your lawyer, he’s working in your best interests.”

“I thought cops wouldn’t want me talking to a lawyer.” Ash grinned when he said it.

Captain Jenkins returned the smile. “We’re working with you, not against you. Ash, there is something we wanted to talk to you about. We found it when we were investigating Golzine so I’m sure it’ll come up in court.” He hesitated and looked around at the room filled with not only Ash’s friends, but also all The Avengers. “Do you want some privacy?”

“No point, if it’s going to come out, anyway.”

“Alright. Then I thought you should know that while your juvie records are sealed, everything that happened after you turned eighteen - what happened with Arthur and everything else - is gone.”

Ash frowned. “Gone? What d’ya mean it’s gone?”

“We have a very good computer technician who’s going through Golzine’s personal computer and it turns out that after he adopted you- ”

Tony spit out the water he’d been drinking. “What?!”

Captain Jenkins kept focused on Ash. “After Golzine adopted you everything just disappeared. There are no charges against you. We still have to deal with the fact that you skipped bail after Marvin Crosby got killed, but considering everything that’s going on, I don’t think you have to worry about that.”

“Dino probably had all that stuff taken care of. He wouldn’t want it to come out later that the heir apparent to his empire has a record.” Ash slouched in his seat. “Couldn’t have anything coming out to embarrass him, after all.”

Steve, who had been keeping politely quiet, raised a hand. “Excuse me, please, but I’m a little confused. Heir apparent? He adopted you? I thought you were...” Steve’s voice trailed off and he looked uncomfortable, no doubt he was unwilling to cause Ash further pain by talking bluntly about what Ash had gone though.

“A couple of weeks ago, Dino got hold of me, again. He adopted me. Go ahead and look in the papers; it’s probably in there. He did it all legally. He had a big party with lots of other rich and famous people to tell them the news. Legally, my name is Ash Golzine.” He couldn’t have sounded more disgusted. “That’s gonna change as soon as I can get it done. Dino even put me in his will, left everything to me.”

Detective Dickinson said, “There’s more. We started taking a closer look at Evanstine, after you told us what you suspected, and things do look fishy. Not just your case, but other things he’s worked on have had connections with Golzine. Evidence has gone missing, witnesses changed their testimony, and all sorts of other little things. And, you’re right, some evidence went missing from the evidence locker - a metal suitcase found at the scene of the helicopter crash. He must have got wind we were looking at his old cases, because now Evanstine’s vanished. We don’t know where he is.”

Phil stepped forward. “Forgive me for interrupting, detective, but do you believe there’s any danger that man will try to hurt Ash? If so, we’ll need a photograph of him as well as any pertinent information.”

Ash said, “He’s a peon Dino kept on the payroll to do little jobs inside the police station. A very small fish that I’m not worried about.”

Still, Phil requested the information and Detective Dickinson was more than happy to oblige. They then went on to talk about the incident at the Chang Dai. Clint and Natasha, again, filled in with what they knew, but, unfortunately, they knew very little. Even the team Phil had sent over to investigate had come back with very little. They knew who the shooters were, but not who they were working for or who had killed them or why they’d been killed. They told the officers about the man who’d taken the metal suitcase from Detective Evanstine, someone who’d worked for Golzine named Gregory, but there wasn’t much more information. It worried Phil. Guarding Ash was the prime mission, but he would very much like to know what was going on. He wanted to be on the ground and do some investigating of his own because there were too many questions.

When the business of what had happened at the Chang Dai had been wrapped up, Captain Jenkins spoke up. “There’s one last thing.” He picked up a briefcase he’d brought with him. “I’m not sure how to tell you this, but... ah. Well,” he paused and glanced around the room before he looked at Bruce. “Doctor Banner? Right? Maybe you can help me out.” He pulled a photograph out of his briefcase and handed it to Bruce. “Do you know what that is?”

Phil went to stand beside Bruce to look over his shoulder as did Tony. The photograph was of a page of chemical equations and notes that involved words Phil didn’t even know. Bruce studied the photograph for some time before he said, “I believe... I’m almost entirely certain... this is notes about human cloning.”

Captain Jenkins’ shoulders slumped. It was not the answer he’d wanted. “Right. Okay. That page was found at the National Institute of Mental Health. Ash, I’ll be asking you for a D.N.A. sample.” He hesitated and folded his hands on the table in front of him. “Ash did Golzine ever take bits of your hair, blood samples... anything like that? Anything that might have your D.N.A.?”

“He had my doctor run blood tests and stuff all the time.” Ash looked at the photograph showing the cloning equations and notes. “He could have got my hair anytime he wanted. You think he cloned me?”

“We’re not sure,” Detective Dickinson told him. “We went to the National Institute of Mental Health to check on your accusations. It looked like a lot of stuff had been moved out in a hurry. There were a lot of strangely empty rooms. There was an incinerator that appeared to have been working at full blast for hours before we arrived. We think we found some human remains in it. It’s all being tested, now.”

Ash’s mouth opened and closed. He sat up straight and turned his head a little to the side and let his face fall forward enough that his long hair partially covered his face. “And you think Dino had someone clone me and now, because I spoke up... they... they killed my clones?” 

Phil couldn’t blame Ash for the disbelieve in his voice. It sounded far too wild to be true, like a bad science fiction movie.

Captain Jenkins kept a remarkably calm demeanor and Phil could only credit years of police work with his ability not to flinch from Ash’s pained words. “We don’t know. That’s why we’d like a D.N.A. sample, so we can find out for sure, one way or the other. Look, don’t panic. Don’t work yourself up. This could have nothing to do with you.”

“Right.” Ash rolled his eyes. “I’m sure every mental hospital routinely cremates the patients. They’ll have burned all the brains, too.”

Detective Dickinson nodded. “Probably. We haven’t found a room full of brains in jars, yet, so I can only guess that was what had happened to them.”

It was, without a doubt, one of the most disturbing conversations Phil had ever heard. “I’d like to know what this is about? Why were there brains in jars at the N.I.M.H.?”

No one answered.

Max rubbed the back of his neck. Charlie awkwardly looked down at the table. Mister Scott looked just as confused as Phil felt and said, “Is this something I should know about?” He looked at Ash. “I need to know everything to help you, Ash.” When Ash didn’t answer, Mister Scott said, “We can talk privately, if you like.”

Ash’s face went blank. “No. No. We’re not talking about it.” He looked coldly at Phil and repeated, “We’re not talking about it!” Ash was decided and all Phil’s training in reading people told him that Ash wouldn’t change his mind and he was immediately reminded of what Max had said about Ash being extremely unlikely to talk about whatever was in the metal suitcase. It was connected. All of it was connected.

With a thump, Max hit the table in front of him. He swore, loudly. “I should have guessed something was up.” He put a hand on Ash’s shoulder. “When they went and took you to the National Institute of Mental health, they announced to the world you were dead. You remember I told you that?”

“Yeah.”

Max continued, “They said you died during transportation and George and I went to witness your autopsy. It was a real autopsy and the boy they had on the table sure looked like you. Something told me that it wasn’t really you, but I couldn’t figure out how they found someone who looked so much like you in such a short time.”

"That's what made me think of Ash when we suspected someone had been trying to clone a human," Detective Dickinson said. "The resemblance between Ash that that other boy was just too close."

“It had me fooled,” Mister Scott admitted. “I’d have bet money that was you on the slab, Ash. A clone? Do we really think Golzine made Ash clones and one of them was used as a decoy so people would stop looking for him? But the boy they showed us at the autopsy was Ash’s age. How did he get so old so quickly? He should have been years younger than Ash.”

Ash pushed the photograph back across the table to Captain Jenkins. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed. Tell Max when you need your D.N.A. sample. I’ll give it.”

“Ash, we still need to finish the paperwork and talk, especially about what we just learned.” Mister Scott stood as he spoke and collected the papers he and Ash had been working on. “I’ll come back tomorrow.”

“Right. Right.” Then Ash left the room without another word.

“Human cloning? That can really happen?” Steve looked mystified. “What would he want with a bunch of Ash’s?”

Tony leaned over and cupped his hand around his mouth when he whispered something into Steve’s ear.

Steve turned green. “That’s horrible! I don’t even have a word for what this Golzine character is. I’ve fought megalomaniac psychopaths and I don’t think they were as bad as this guy. Cloning? This sounds like something HYDRA would be involved with. Can’t we do something more to help?” He looked at Phil, angry.

“Not much,” Captain Jenkins answered Steve. “It’s really just investigating and forensic work, now. Golzine’s dead.”

“He is?”

“Ash told us and we just found and positively identified the remains today. It’ll be announced in the news tomorrow. If you really want to help, make sure Ash stays safe and gets to the courthouse. We’ll be looking for that unknown shooter, though, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you happen to hear anything.” He paused on his way out. “By the way, Mister Stark, if you wouldn’t mind coming down to the station tomorrow, I have a few questions about that building of yours that’s under investigation.” Then he nodded and left with Detective Dickinson and Mister Scott trailing behind him.

Ash-  
Later-

Ash didn’t sleep after Charlie and Captain Jenkins left. He couldn’t. He lay on the bed for hours, quiet and still enough to please anyone worried about his health. Dino had cloned him. The knowledge floated around his head and wouldn’t leave him alone. It was obvious and, in hindsight, Ash wasn’t all that surprised. Of course Dino had him cloned. He had the money to buy the right technology and the perversion to want more ‘pets’ around to hurt. Ash had no doubt why Dino had done it - it was because Ash was beautiful. Dino had made people he could hurt because Ash was perfect. He’d made them to hurt them solely because they looked like Ash. In a way, it was Ash’s fault. Had his clones been able to think? Had they been afraid? Maybe Dino had just made living dolls who didn’t feel anything. Maybe his clones had cried, maybe they’d fought and screamed.

‘God, I’m so sick of everything!’ Ash hit the bed beside him with a fist. ‘I hate this! I hate all of this! I hate him! I never wanted this. I never wanted to be perfect for him.’ And then, Ash very suddenly wanted to be anything but Dino’s idea of perfect. He sat up and his wounds hurt more than they had since he’d woken up in the hospital. For a moment, the pain almost took his breath away. “Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S., you said you don’t look in bathrooms, right?”

“That is correct.”

Ash stood up. “I just want to wash.” What he really wanted was a shower. He felt filthy. However, with his wound still healing, a shower might not be a great idea. “I’ll be out in a minute.” Once in the bathroom, he filled the sink with steaming hot water and washed all over with a face cloth. He kept scrubbing and scrubbing. He still didn’t feel clean, but his skin was starting to hurt and was turning pink and the last time he’d stayed too long under hot water, Blanca had given him a lecture about properly taking care of himself and not trying to scrub his skin off. So he stopped and looked at his reflection in the mirror over the sink once he ran a hand across it to wipe away the fog. 

He looked down at the bandage covering his most recent wound then peeled it back a little and decided he was healing well enough. It still hurt, but it could be worse. The stab on his shoulder from Foxx looked equally reassuring.

He looked back at his reflection. He was tired. “This was supposed to end. Everything was going to be better when Dino was dead. Everything was going to be fine.” But it wasn’t. There seemed to be just as many problems and his nightmares were just as vivid as ever, he was still having a hard time eating and he felt guilty for that because it upset Jessica and she’d been a lot nicer to him than she had to be ever since he’d gotten her involved in his train wreck of a life. “I thought everything would be better.”

When he left the bathroom, J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “Mister Lynx, do you need assistance getting to sleep? I believe there is soothing tea in the kitchen. If you are no longer tired, I will alert Bruce so he may assess your current health and determine next steps.”

“No. I’m alright. And leave Doctor Banner alone; no point in waking him.” Ash left the room and went to the common room. Night had fallen. All was quiet. J.A.R.V.I.S. obligingly turned on lights as Ash walked along. In the common room, Ash went to the large window and looked out at the city Dino had promised to give him. He looked at his reflection in the window. He put out a hand and touched his reflection’s face. He didn’t want to be like that. His hair... his body... his face... everything was just what Dino had wanted - his ideal of perfection. Ash hated it. Hated all of it. Hated himself. He put his hand over the face of his reflection before he turned sharply and marched into the kitchen.

J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “Ash, are you alright? You seem agitated.”

Ash didn’t answer. He went to the kitchen cabinets and began searching through the drawers.

“Ash, please answer. Are you alright?”

Ash felt funny as he dug through each drawer. He distantly realized he was panicking and thought Blanca might be disappointed in his reaction, but it was only a distant thought. He found silverware, cooking utensils and all manner of other things customarily found in kitchens, but didn’t stop until he open one final drawer and seized a pair of scissors. He took those scissors and went back to the window and his reflection. His hand tightened on the scissors so hard that his hand began to hurt.

“Ash?” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “I will summon assistance if you can not answer me.”

“I don’t want to be what he wanted me to be.” Ash hissed the words at his reflection. “I won’t be his perfect pet anymore!” And he raised the scissors up, determined to make himself imperfect.

To be continued...


	15. "I Missed You"

Chapter 15: “I Missed You”

Tony-

Tony had worked well into the night, but that was no new thing. He often got caught up in an idea and he had a real hum-dinger with his newest project. It had everything. Chemistry, engineering, saving lives - if he could figure out how, he’d have it make toast, too. So it was early, barely 3 a.m., when he finally left his workshop. He yawned as he walked to his rooms; he hadn’t realized how tired he was.

“Sir, please go immediately to the common room,” J.A.R.V.I.S.’ voice startled Tony to full alertness. “Ash is behaving in a unusual manner that makes me uncomfortable. I do not understand. Please go to the common room. Please go to the common room.”

“I’m on it!” And Tony broke into a sprint to go the last of the distance to the common room. He felt his heart start to race, but it wasn’t entirely the idea that Ash was acting in a puzzling way, it was the tension in J.A.R.V.I.S.’ voice that made him move. J.A.R.V.I.S. didn’t panic, but he sounded dangerously close to doing just that. So whatever was up with Ash must have been something a little more than merely ‘behaving in a unusual manner’. “Alert Max!”

“Yes, Sir.”

He rushed into the common room and looked around quickly. He saw Ash standing near the biggest window that looked out onto the city. The boy faced the window, his back to Tony. He wasn’t moving. Tony moved closer, but kept his pace slow. He knew - he just knew - that sudden movements would set Ash off. “Hey? Ash?”

Ash turned and Tony sucked in a shocked breath. In one hand, Ash held a pair of scissors. In the other hand he held a large handful of golden hair. The hair right over his forehead, right between his eyes, had been cut nearly down to the scalp. His eyes were wide with an almost manic look in them. Ash hissed, “It’s my hair! I can do what I want with it. It’s my hair and my face and my body and I can do what I want with it!” He dropped the handful of hair and reached up to take another big handful on his head which he hacked off in a hurried, clumsy manner. 

Tony held his breath for a minute. ‘I’m not up for this! Where’s Phil? Or Bruce? I don’t know what to say, I never know what to say! Everyone says I’m garbage with people things. I don’t do people - I do robots and computers and stuff. What do I say? What do I say?!’ And as those frenzied thoughts ran though his mind, Tony’s eyes couldn’t seem to leave the scissors in Ash’s hand and he imagined Ash getting himself so worked up that he stabbed himself in the eye or cut off an ear or something. So he took a calming breath and said, “Right. Sure. Of course it’s your hair. You want a hair cut, you go for it. You don’t have to rush, you know. Go slow. Take your time.”

Ash glared. “And I can eat anything I want, too!” He stomped to the kitchen and threw open one of the cupboard doors, then took out a box of cookies. He shoved one in his mouth, chewed for a moment, stopped and looked green. He spit it out in the trash can and muttered, “Gross.”

Tony waited for a moment, but Ash didn’t immediately say or do anything. Tony eyed the scissors still in Ash’s hand. “You know,” he hesitantly said and hoped he was saying the right thing. “When I was about nine, my dad went and colored my hair blonde.”

Ash didn’t move a muscle. 

“He wanted me to look like this guy he used to know, back in the war. His friend was blonde, so he wanted me to be blonde, too. It was awful. He hired a hairdresser to do it. The stuff stank and it had to be redone every time my roots started showing. It was never the right shade of blonde to satisfy dad, but he kept doing it.” And he thought, ‘Am I rambling? I am. What am I trying to say? God, don’t let him put an eye out!’ He kept talking purely to distract Ash until someone far better suited so such delicate situation could arrive. “When I was thirteen, I had enough. I dyed my hair back to it’s right color. He was so mad, but it was my hair. My choice. I didn’t want to look like his friend.”

Very slowly, Ash looked at Tony. What a miserable sight he was, pale and tired with his hair a catastrophe. “What did he do?” Ash asked. “When he saw your hair?”

“Threw a very old bottle of brandy against a wall. What a waste.” There had been more, but Tony didn’t want to think about it and it wouldn’t do Ash any good to hear it. “I did other stuff when I was trying to get away from this image he wanted me to have. He wanted the whole world to see me as the perfect son, the flawless heir to his empire. So I was deliberately imperfect. I started drinking way too young. Smoked for a while. Did other stuff I’m really not proud of. Made the news a few unfortunate times. In general, I messed up my life to make him angry. So, really, if you want to cut your hair, I don’t think it’s all that awful.”

At that moment, the common room door slammed open and Max, wearing pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, rushed in. “Ash! J.A.R.V.I.S. said...” His words died when he saw Ash, leaning over the trash can, scissors still clenched in one hand and nearly half his hair missing. “Oh... kid.”

Ash straightened up and looked Max right in the eye. It lasted for all of a few seconds before he looked away and his hand drifted up to his butchered hair. “Max... don’t let this go to your head, but I think you might be right. Maybe I need to talk to someone about... stuff. I think I’m broken.”

Max’s jaw clenched and he marched across the room and, without hesitation, swept Ash into an embrace. For a moment, Tony thought Ash might fight to get away and, given his history, it would have been an entirely understandable response, but Ash just stood there and let himself be held. Tony had the sudden understanding that Ash wasn’t quite sure what to do about being hugged. It was a problem Tony was familiar with. His family had never been much for hugging.

“You’re not broken.” Max let go of Ash and stepped back. “You might be bent and little crumpled around the edges, but you’re not broken. And if you want someone to talk to, I’ll find you someone. Someone real good.”

Again, Ash put a hand to the remains of his hair. “Jessica’s gonna freak, isn’t she?”

“Ah, don’t worry about that. It’s only hair. How about I clean it up for you? I’m no barber, but I can give you a crew-cut. What do you say? I used to cut your brother’s hair for him.” So he cut Ash’s hair, nearly down to the scalp and, when he’d finished Ash had a very respectable crew-cut. Funny enough, he looked younger with his face exposed rather than half-hiding behind his hair. Max told Ash, “Don’t worry. Everything will seem better by tonight.”

“Why would tonight be any different than any other night?”

“Trust your pops, would you?”

The three of them stayed awake the rest of the night. Tony hid the scissors. Ash sat by the window, looking out at the city, thinking. Max drank coffee in the kitchen and typed furiously on his phone, sending a message to someone and it looked urgent.

Elsewhere-  
Thema Shehata-

Thema sat in her car. A rented car, the most common one she could find - simple and cheap. She sat parked on the side of the street, her hands folded on her lap, and thought. She couldn’t find one of Golzine’s bodyguards. Angie. He’d gone missing and there was no sign of him that she could find. She’d even tried going back to Golzine’s mansion in New Jersey, again, to question the servants, but the police had gotten there. The servants and all Golzine’s other men had vanished. There had been policemen guarding the house and she couldn’t take the chance of being caught so she’d driven on to think.

As Angie couldn’t be found, she would have to find Gregory. With a little hacking, she’d found that Gregory had emptied his bank account mere hours earlier. Golzine wasn’t stingy with his employees and paid well for loyal help, so Gregory had plenty of money. What would he do with it? She ran over several scenarios in her mind. He might run to stay away from the law. He might, once everything had settled, attempt to take over Golzine’s empire.

She closed her eyes and thought about what little she knew of Gregory. He wouldn’t run. He wouldn’t even consider taking over Golzine’s dominion. No, he’d been a loyal man. Quiet and unfailing obedient to his master. In fact, she could almost call him devoted. So, in the wake of Golzine’s death, what would he do? It had been announced in the news that Golzine had died, his body had been found in the wreckage of the mysterious helicopter crash, but Thema had taken a peek into the police records and found notes that strongly hinted that the detectives investigating suspected murder. A witness claimed Colonel Foxx had shot Golzine twice in the chest. If Golzine had been murdered, Gregory would have been irate. 

“More than irate,” Thema said to herself. She put her hands on the steering wheel. “He was dedicated to Golzine, even I could see that and I didn’t know him well. He was willing to do anything for Golzine.” Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “He’ll go after the killer. But Foxx is dead. So... where would he go? He’d get revenge. He’ll need revenge. Did he kill Angie for failing to protect Golzine? Maybe that’s why I can’t find Angie.” It was a possible explanation, but it didn’t feel quite right.

It was at that moment that a group of teenagers crossed the street in front of her car, all them laughing and carefree. One of them was a boy with shaggy blonde hair and she was reminded of her favorite. That made her think of Club Cod and her too rare visits there. 

Memory -

When Thema had first gone to Golzine and gave him HYDRA’s offer, he hadn’t seemed very impressed or worried, both of which she’d expected. She hadn’t expected him to, in the privacy of his office at his mansion, bring up her past indiscretion years ago with a young prostitute in Scotland.

“I was surprised,” Golzine said, languidly. He leaned back in his chair and lit his cigar. “Don’t look so pale. I’m really not the type to turn you over to the police, after all. I think we may be able to help each other. I don’t care for having people looking over my shoulder. While I understand your organization is accustomed to getting what it wants, I want to work without such distasteful things as threats and attacks.” He waved his hand holding the cigar lazily, casting smoke into a whirling cloud around him. “So, in exchange for you keeping your people civil, why don’t you keep yourself entertained at my club? At a highly discounted price, of course.”

And that was how she’d ended up at Club Cod for the first time, walking through a smoky restaurant with people eating and drinking, a few dancing. It was entirely respectable until he took her through several doors, down two hallways, passed a locked door and then to a door where he knocked on it and a small window slid open. Small eyes peered out before the window closed. Thema heard the slide of a bolt before the door was opened and a man on the other side bowed to Golzine. “Good afternoon, Papa Dino.”

“I have a new guest. We’re just taking a little tour.” He led her into a quiet part of his club. The lights were low. It wasn’t some seedy establishment. The floors were polished marble. The air smelled like perfume. “Why don’t we go to the dormitory?”

The dormitory turned out to be exactly what it sounded like - one large room with two dozen small cots. It was clean, oddly clean. There wasn’t a hint of dust, not even a stray sock tucked under a cot. Everything was white, almost sterile looking. On each cot was a child, not one of them could have been older than sixteen. The youngest was... very young. They were all dressed alike in bright white nightshirts and white slippers, like a bizarre sort of uniform. They were all very attractive and most of them were either asleep of staring at the ceiling with glassy, half-closed eyes.

“The opium keeps everyone quiet and content,” Golzine had said when they looked in through a glass window in the door of the dormitory. “I do so like a peaceful environment and content little children; there’s no point at all in having them upset and stressed, so a little dose of opium makes them all very biddable.”

Thema’s eyes went to one bed near the back and saw a boy, a blonde, awake and watching them. His face was blank, but he was definitely awake and aware. He was also the only child in the room who was tied to the bed with a rope around one wrist.

“One of my newer boys,” Golzine said when she asked about that one. “He’s learning his manners and sometimes has unfortunate little incidents so a leash seems to keep him out of trouble. Last week he was caught trying to sneak out and he bit the guard who caught him.” Golzine chuckled, fondly. “Such a little scamp. You should have seen him when I bought him - all bruises and covered in filth. He cleaned up quite well. He fights the effects of the opium - he has a remarkably strong will - but he can’t resist long. Soon, he’ll be dozing and peaceful.”

She felt her heart thudding and blood rushed in her ears. She wasn’t stupid. She knew very well what he was offering and she wanted it. She wanted it very much. “I have to give routine reports to my superiors, but, for the most part, I’ll let you develop the Banana Fish on your terms.”

Golzine raised an eyebrow and he took another puff on his cigar. “You’ll LET me? How very generous of you. Now, which one would you like? Boy or girl?”

She had the nagging feeling of being a fly stepping into the spider’s parlor.

End Memory-

Thema shook her head and dismissed the memory. She had thoroughly enjoyed her time at Club Cod, but that was over. No matter. It wasn’t as if Club Cod had been unique. There were such establishments that would cater to her tastes all over the world. China, Russia, Finland, Nigeria, Australia... they were literally everywhere. She would find another as soon as the Banana Fish mess was finished and she would find a new favorite.

None of that changed the fact that she needed to find Gregory and he could be anywhere in the city. He may have even left the city. It was almost completely unthinking that she would ever find him and if she didn’t find him, she wouldn’t get the Banana Fish for HYDRA. Despair began to flood over her as she thought about what her employers would do to her. 

A knock on the driver’s side window made her jump and her hand instantly went to where her gun was concealed under her coat. She looked to her side to see what had caused the knock and, to her astonishment, there was Gregory. He looked very different, but there was no doubt it was him. He smirked and knocked on the window a second time before he sauntered to the passenger side of the car and let himself in. He sat and, after closing the door behind him, he put his bag on his knees and turned to look at Thema. “Hello.”

Her hand didn’t leave her gun. “I’ve been looking for you. How did you find me?”

“You haven’t been subtle. You’ve been to the mansion twice just after Papa Dino’s death. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what you looking for. You’re looking for the Banana Fish.”

Her hand tightened around her gun. “I am. And you’re going to tell me where it is.”

“Of course I will.” He said it so easily, so calmly, but stared at her with cold eyes. “I don’t mind giving you the Banana Fish.”

“Then you know where it is?!”

“I do. But I don’t give things away. You’re going to help me.”

“And why should I do anything of the sort? I haven’t been out of the field so long that I’ve forgotten my training. I can force you to tell me where it is.”

He smiled. “No. You can’t. You think I’m afraid to die? Afraid of pain? Go ahead and try. But if you do, I will take the information to my grave and, if I survive, I will let the whole world know that the most respected Councilwoman of the World Security Council, overseers of the powerful S.H.I.E.L.D. and their lackeys, The Avengers, is an agent of HYDRA.”

“You have no proof of anything.”

“Who needs proof these days? A simple rumor of minor immorality can destroy a life. What do you think will happen to you if people think you’re part of a murderous organization with ambitions of world domination? There will be an investigation and I’m sure you don’t want that. Why don’t we work together, instead? I ask so little.”

“What do you want in exchange for the Banana Fish?”

“Blanca.”

Thema gasped at the name and couldn’t help herself. She had never met Blanca, but there were rumors and whispers. She knew people who’d met him, done business with him. She swallowed, hard. “Blanca?”

“He’s in my way. You get rid of Blanca and I’ll put the Banana Fish right in your hands.”

The Avenger’s Tower-  
Phil-

Phil was stunned to see the change in Ash when he walked in the kitchen the next morning, but a glance exchanged with Tony advised Phil not to make a big deal of it. So he said good morning and went to get his breakfast. It was the same for everyone as they woke - a curious look at Ash, sitting by the window, before they moved on and got something to eat. Only Michael had no reservation about speaking his mind. He walked in with Jessica and he ran to Ash. “You cut your hair!” He reached up and ran his hands over the short bristles of Ash’s hair. “You feel like a porcupine. I like it!”

Jessica shook her head. “Michael. Breakfast. Leave Ash alone for a bit.”

The morning went quickly and peacefully. All was well. Ash ate a little, though Phil believed he only did so to prevent another scene of Michael refusing to eat. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but at least he was eating. After breakfast J.A.R.V.I.S. brought up the image of the drone’s view of the city and Ash retrieved the controls from his room so he could continue his search from the common room. Ash’s search for the mysterious Gregory, was slightly hampered because Michael wanted to watch the ducks in the park and, apparently, Ash couldn’t refuse Michael.

At nine o’clock, Tony left after telling Phil that he was off to the police station for his meeting with Captain Jenkins. “I expect it’s something about my department store. Maybe they found something already.”

“Maybe. Do you want company?” Phil offered.

It was tempting, but Tony knew Phil had a lot of work to do - he was always busy - so he said, “No. Don’t worry about it. I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’ll have J.A.R.V.I.S. with me to keep me out of trouble. Right?”

J.A.R.V.I.S. answered, “Yes, Sir. Keep your phone turned on and I’ll listen through it.”

In a short time, Tony walked into the police station. No one really paid him any attention and it was rather refreshing to not be stared at all the time. Inside was crowded and noisy, but he managed to slip over to the front desk. “Hi.” He gave the sergeant his most winning smile. “I’m here to see Captain Jenkins. He asked me to come around.”

Captain Jenkins arrived very quickly. He was short and round with an aggressively receding hairline and a droopy black moustache. He looked like the stereotypical over-worked, under-paid old-school detective. He held out a hand to Tony and they shook. “Mister Stark, thank you for coming by so quickly. Come with me; I have a quieter place we can talk.”

“Of course,” Tony said. “What’s this about?”

“I have a few things we need to talk about in regards to your property that’s under investigation.”

Tony followed Captain Jenkins through the station to a small office that was smaller than a coat closet in Tony’s home. Most of the office was taken up with a desk and chair, a smaller chair for a visitor, and a filing cabinet. There was no room for anything else. Captain Jenkins took his seat behind the desk and motioned for Tony to sit in the other chair. He fished a manila envelope out of one of his desk drawers. “I’ll be quick about this.” He took several photographs out of the envelope and put them on the desk in front of Tony. “Do you know any of these men?”

They were all dressed in military fatigues, looking straight at the camera. They were clearly professional photographs, most likely taken by the military for identification purposes. Tony looked carefully, but had to shake his head. “Sorry. I’ve never seen any of them.”

“We were able to identify several of the bodies we found at your building and these were what we found. You’re sure none of them are familiar?”

“Absolutely sure. So, they are actual military?”

Captain Jenkins shrugged and rubbed his eyes tiredly before he put the photographs back in the drawer. “We’re still sorting things out. Can you tell me what that building was meant to be?”

“A department store.”

“You’re sure about that?”

Tony went silent. He blinked at Captain Jenkins and had a suddenly bad feeling. He leaned forward a little. “Should I have brought a lawyer?”

Captain Jenkins chuckled. “You don’t have to, but if you’d like to call for one, I don’t mind. You’re not a suspect in anything, Mister Stark. We have a pretty good witness about what happened at your building and why the helicopter was there- ”

Tony halfway stood up with sudden excitement and put his hands on the desk in front of him. “You do?! What happened?”

“Let me finish, please. While you’re not a suspect, you are involved in this case as more than just the owner of the building. Would you like to call for your lawyer now? My questions can wait until they get here.”

Tony felt his estimation of Captain Jenkins rise at the offer. He clearly wasn’t worried about playing some elaborate trick to fool Tony into saying something that might be incriminating or trying to catch him at anything. He was just a good cop trying to get his work done. “How about I just record our conversation? You wouldn’t mind that, would you?”

“Not at all, Mister Stark. Go right ahead.” He waited until Tony pull his phone out and set it recording. “Right. You said your building is going to be a department store. Do you have any idea why your department store has three operating rooms as well as a morgue?”

For one of the very very times in his life, Tony was struck dumb. He stared at Captain Jenkins and had no good answer at all. He shook his head.

“During our investigation, we found those things, already completed in the lower levels. One of my officers found blueprints of the building that shows there were also meant to be patient’s rooms, doctor’s offices, isolation chambers, and a room specifically for storage of medication. You’ll have to forgive me if that doesn’t sound much like a department store.”

Apart from being stunned, Tony was acutely embarrassed as he apparently didn’t know what was going on in his own businesses. “I... I don’t know what to tell you. It was meant to be a department store. Not some kind of hospital.”

“Did you ever see the original blueprints?”

Again, Tony shook his head. “This project was originally the idea of Obadiah Stane. When he died I let the project keep going. It was only supposed to be a store and everything had already been paid for. I need to see the blueprints.” He couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out what Stane had been thinking. It sounded like he’d been building a hospital, but why hide that under the disguise of a department store? And why a hospital? That wasn’t Stane’s style at all.

“I’m afraid those are evidence.” Captain Jenkins took a drink from a styrofoam cup of coffee and grimaced at the taste. “Were you aware that the construction company used for that project was owned by Dino Golzine?”

“No.”

“Our people have been doing a lot of research into this building and we’ve spoken to the head of the construction company. We’re confident they weren’t involved in the dead men being there or the helicopter crash, but they did show us paperwork that showed Obadiah Stane had signed off on all the paperwork, paid the work crews, and signed off his approval of the blueprints. Did Mister Stane ever work independently?”

“Lots of times. He was basically second-in-command and ran everything when I was busy.” It hit Tony like lightening that Obadiah Stane might have been running any manner of illegal operations in the name of Stark Industries. Tony had always trusted him, right up to the end. He’d never even questioned anything Stane did with the business. He would have to spend days going through all the records Stane had ever touched to make sure there was nothing questionable. “Look, let’s put things plainly. Apparently, my department store is a hospital, right? Is there anything illegal about that?”

“Not at all. All proper permits were filed. There were even building inspectors who went in to see that everything was up to code.”

“Right. Fine.” That, Tony decided, wasn’t so bad. “So, Stane lied to me, but he didn’t break any laws. That’s good. I’ll talk to my people and decide what to do about all this.”

“For now, you’ll do nothing about it,” Captain Jenkins said, firmly. “We’re still investigating. We’re going to need to see whatever paperwork you have for that building, especially in regards to the finances.”

“Of course. Is there something questionable with the finances?”

“We just need all the information we can get. According to the paperwork that was uncovered, your building was going to be a new branch for The National Institute of Mental Health. This one was apparently going to specialize in children and teenagers.”

“I still don’t see how any of this is a problem. It doesn’t seem illegal to have a children’s hospital. In fact, it’s a surprisingly good thing for Stane to have been involved in.”

Captain Jenkins took another gulp of his unpleasant coffee then set it down and folded his hands on his desk. “This is a potential problem because Dino Golzine is involved with a project dealing with children. I want to know how much Golzine was involved. I want to know if your company has any other business dealings with Golzine that I need to look into. I’ll find it all sooner or later, but any information you can give me will help. If you can think of anything that might help us, please contact me as soon as you can.” He handed Tony a business card, shook his hand and walked Tony out.

It wasn’t until Tony was sitting in his car that it hit him. Stane had used Tony’s money to build something for the person who had owned and ran Club Cod. A children’s hospital? Dear God! What would someone like that have done in a children’s hospital? The idea that his money had helped someone like Golzine was repulsive.

The rest of that day was spent going through old records of things Stane had been involved with. He got so involved that by the time he’d finished and concluded that the hospital was the only project Stane had worked with Golzine on, it was well into the afternoon. However, what he did find disturbed him greatly and he knew he had to contact Captain Jenkins, again. Before that, he found Phil in his office, working on paperwork for S.H.I.E.L.D., and brought the problem to him. Tony said nothing at first, just walked into Phil’s office - he’d apologize later for not knocking - and paced the room a few times before Phil set aside his work and looked up.

“Something wrong, Tony?”

“Yes. Maybe. I think so. I’m pretty sure. Look. Look. I told you I went to see that cop. Captain Jenkins. Remember?”

“Yes. Tony, why don’t you slow down a little? Just breathe.”

“I can’t! I can’t slow down. That cop told me Stane hired Golzine’s construction crew to work on my department store. Right? Only, it wasn’t a department store, it was some kind of hospital. They found morgues and things. Stane never told me that, he just said it was a department store. So I didn’t think it was any big deal. I don’t like that he gave my money to Golzine by hiring Golzine’s crew, but I could live with that. But I told Captain Jenkins’ I’d look for more information... financial stuff, you know? And I did, but it looks to me like Stane didn’t just hire Golzine’s construction crew. It sure looks like Golzine provided the construction blueprints and, unless I’m misreading things, he basically hired Stane to build the place for him. So... my company was working for Golzine? I don’t like this, Phil. I don’t like this at all. And why? Golzine had the construction crew and had the blueprints, so he could have done this himself without getting my company involved. He knew what he wanted; Captain Jenkins said the place was going to be another National Institute of Mental Health, but for kids and teenagers. Why did he have to involve me?”

Phil was thoughtful for a moment as he considered Tony’s question. “If, as it’s name suggests, The National Institute of Mental Health is a government facility, a private citizen couldn’t have just built another one, not unless...” Phil’s voice trailed off. He stared into space for a moment, thinking. “Unless he was working with someone in the government.”

The implications were horrifying. “How far do you think Golzine’s tentacles reached?”

“A lot further than I’d thought. I suppose it’s possible that he provided the plans to get the new institute built and had a government official ready and waiting to sign the final paperwork to make it a federal institute. He would have it built the way he wanted it, built by his own people, but a cursory look at paperwork would show anyone who was investigating that it was a government facility, not his. That you built it, not him. Why do you say it looks like Golzine hired Stane?”

“Because Stane left a note on his computer. It says so point blank. Golzine contacted him about nine months ago and made the offer. He paid Stane a big bucket full of money for Stane to undertake the job. I think Stane left the note as proof in case he needed some kind of leverage against Golzine. Like insurance.” Tony finally stopped pacing. He was exhausted and he realized he hadn’t slept in a very long time. “You think Golzine used Stark Industries as... well... camouflage?”

“I think it’s a very real possibility. To the eyes of the public, you built the place and the government buys it. As I said - he hardly looks like he’s involved at all.”

Tony ran both hands over his head and sighed. “I need to talk to Captain Jenkins about all this. God. Someone in the government is involved in all this? This whole situation just gets worse and worse. And what would Golzine get out of building that kind of place, anyway? Other than easy access to vulnerable little kids, of course. Did he build the original National Institute of Mental Health? What did he do with that one? If it turns out that they did have clones of Ash, then that can’t have been all they did. Something else must have gone on there and I have a hard time believing that someone like Golzine or people who would illegally clone an underaged kid would be all that interested in rehabilitating violent criminals, like their brochure says.”

“Max hinted that the man Ash is looking for, Gregory, has something Ash wants found and it sounds like it’s something dangerous. I have the feeling that Golzine might have been a man with his fingers in a lot of pies and, to be perfectly frank, I think Club Cod was not the only project of his we should be concerned with. To answer your questions, you might want to ask Ash. When it comes to Golzine, he’s our best source of information.”

Tony balked at the idea. “I don’t want to give him any more stress. He shouldn’t have to keep thinking about that guy.”

“I know. But the fact is, he will most likely not be able to stop thinking about Golzine for a long time. The court date is coming closer and he will have to testify. Even when that’s over, I don’t think Golzine will be far from Ash’s mind for a long time. It’s not the kind of thing a person can just ‘get over’ and forget.” Then, Phil gave Tony a little smile. “By the way, you did a very good job with him this morning. Max told me that he came into the room to see you trying to calm Ash down. It must have been hard. I’m proud of you.”

Those simple words brought a rush of pleasant warmth to Tony’s chest. Somehow, Phil always knew what to say. Still, he couldn’t forget the horror of finding Ash as he had. “I couldn’t stop him from cutting his hair, but God! I thought he was going to start cutting up his face! I can’t tell you how scared I was when I went into the room and saw him with the scissors and that awful, desperate look on his face. I hate to ask, but do you think he might hurt himself?”

Phil looked down at his lap. “I don’t know.”

After he spoke with Phil, Tony made a phone call to Captain Jenkins, but had to leave a message and ask Captain Jenkins to get back to him as soon as possible. He got a little rest and met with everyone in the kitchen for dinner. Everyone but Max. When he asked, Jessica absently said,

“He had to go out for a bit. He should be back any minute.”

Dinner went well. Ash ate some fish and drank water, but excused himself after that and went into the common room where he concentrated on using the drone to find Gregory. He was intent, completely focused on his task. Tony was halfway through eating when his phone rang. He stepped away from the table to answer it. It was Max. Tony listened to what Max had to say for a few minutes and ended up smiling. “Yeah. That’s fine.” For the sake of the surprise, Tony said nothing when he hung up the phone and waited for Max to arrive.

Max walked in looking entirely too pleased with himself. He must have been an awful poker player. Still, he schooled his expression by the time he walked over and stood next to Ash. “I got your gun.”

Ash turned his attention away from his search and started to stand, but Max put a hand on his shoulder. “Will you stop moving around so much? God, you’re the worst patient! How you haven’t ripped those stitches yet, I don’t know.” Despite the reprimand, Max handed Ash a polished wooden box. “It’s not new, but it’s in real good condition and you said you don’t like the modern ones.”

Everyone had curiously gathered around to see the gun. It was old, Tony noticed when Ash opened the box. Perhaps fifty years old. And old-fashioned six-shooter. The handle was wooden and there were elegant designs engraved on the barrel. The inside of the case was covered in red velvet and there was ammunition as well as the little tools to take care of a gun and keep it cleaned and in working order. Ash checked it out coolly, professionally, like someone very comfortable with a gun.

“It was my dad’s.”

Ash froze. “I don’t need some kinda family heirloom. I tend to lose these.”

“You don’t lose them, people take them from you. I wouldn’t have given it to you if I didn’t want you to have it.”

They locked eyes for a moment before Ash nodded, sharply. He loaded the gun, then stuck it in the back of his waistband at the small of his back. Ash said, “Thanks. I’ll try to take care of it.”

“I know you will. I have another surprise for you.” He stepped a little away from Ash and called out, “Come on in!”

Tony held his breath. Max had told him on the phone what he was planning, just to be sure Tony wouldn’t have a problem with it, but Tony couldn’t help being a little anxious to see how Ash would react.

Everyone looked at the door Max had just walked through. Around the corner came a young boy - perhaps Ash’s age or a little younger - being pushed in a wheelchair by another man. They were both Asian, Japanese, if Tony guessed correctly. The other man was smaller than Max, with a beard and warm brown eyes. The boy had eyes only for Ash, he didn’t even once look at any of The Avengers. 

“Eiji.” Ash whispered the word as if it were a prayer while he stood up.

The boy, Eiji, took a cane from the man pushing his wheelchair and slowly stood up. He was shorter than Ash, but there was mass to him that Ash lacked. He was solid and muscular. Once standing, Eiji walked carefully to Ash until they were no more than two feet apart. Eiji never stopped smiling, though walking seemed to pain him. “Ash. I missed you.”

To be continued...


	16. Lucky

Chapter 16: Lucky

Thema Shehata-

Still sitting in her rented car with him, Thema Shehata considered Gregory’s offer - get Blanca out of the way in exchange for the Banana Fish. It was an offer that made her heart tremble. To go against Blanca - whose reputation would have him be no less than a legend - was no small thing. But she had to have the Banana Fish. She couldn’t face her superiors without it and she wouldn’t take the shame of facing Sitwell and having to admit she’d failed. And as she was convinced that Gregory was being entirely honest when he’d said that he would die before he gave her the Banana Fish if she didn’t get Blanca out of the way, she could see few other options but to agree. ‘It’s not as if I’m alone in this,’ she told herself, firmly. ‘I’m no small-time crook. I have the power of HYDRA, a virtual army. Even someone like Blanca couldn’t possibly stand alone against HYDRA.’ So she nodded and put out a hand. “You have a deal. I will take care of Blanca and you will provide the Banana Fish.”

Gregory shook her hand. “I knew you’d be agreeable. When the job’s done, bring me proof.”

“What kind of proof? Do you want his head on a pike?”

“Nothing so dramatic, I think. He wears two gold rings on a chain around his neck. I saw them, once. The rings each have a word on them - the same word written in Cyrillic. He never takes the necklace off and he won’t give it up unless he’s dead. Bring me those rings and you’ll get the Banana Fish.”

Avengers Tower-  
Phil-

Ash and the newcomer, Eiji, faced each other. It was impossible to look away. The tension between the two boys was almost visible, like volts of lightening dancing between the two of them. Whatever emotion they inspired in one another, it was powerful. Phil didn’t like unexpected things happening, not with his team. A glance at Tony told Phil that he, at least, wasn’t surprised. Tony smirked at the scene before he caught Phil eye and whispered,

“Max called me during dinner. He said he had guests and asked me not to tell Ash because it was a surprise. A nice surprise.” He frowned as he watched the two boys. “At least, I think it’s a nice surprise.”

And no wonder that Tony was doubting that. Ash had gone pale and stared. He barely seemed to be breathing. And then, to Phil’s shock, Ash burst out, “What are you doing here?! You’re supposed to be in Japan. You’re supposed to be at home with your family and safe and you’re not supposed to be here! It’s still dangerous! I got stabbed and someone shot at me n’ Nadia and it’s probably going to get worse and I don’t want you here with all the danger! Why don’t you ever do what I tell you to do?! Go home!”

While he did wince at the yelling, Eiji smiled at Ash. “But you’re here, so here IS home.”

There was a long moment and Phil found that he was holding his breath, waiting as the two boys stared at each other. The part of him that was accustomed to taking control of situations, accustomed to taking care of people, wanted to say something to ease the tension, but he felt certain that it would have been wrong to interfere. It would have been an invasion of sorts. So he, like everyone else, waited and watched.

Ash softened at once at Eiji’s sweet sentiment. “Don’t get mushy.” Raising a hand to his head, Ash ran that hand over his newly shorn head in a clearly self-conscious gesture. “I cut my hair.”

“I noticed. It looks nice.” Eiji took a step towards Ash.

‘Boyfriends?’ Phil wondered. ‘Something different?’ No matter what the relationship was, Phil couldn’t deny that there was something between the two.

Ash scowled at the compliment and looked away from Eiji. “You alright? You looked like death warmed over in the hospital.”

“Yes, very much alright. I had very good doctors and I heal fast. I was lucky, bullets didn’t hurt anything too important. Ibe-san told me you were stabbed. Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m good. But you really shouldn’t be here. I don’t... You should be safe. Away from me.” 

“You keep saying that and I keep ignoring you.” With a light-hearted grin, Eiji said, “Maybe you should stop saying it.”

Ash smiled at Eiji and it was a glorious sight.

Eiji continued, “Max said you were going to court about Club Cod and Golzine?”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to be here for that. There’s not much you can do.”

“I will stand by you and testify, too!” Eiji said it with great determination, raising his chin as he did.

Ash sighed. “Eiji, you don’t have to testify. Dino didn’t do anything to you. You only know about him because of what I told you.”

“He did have me kidnapped.” Eiji kept smiling, but it looked rather more strained than before and Phil had a very bad feeling. Eiji looked up at the ceiling and tentatively said, “I may have neglected to tell you something.”

“What?”

“Well, the night you rescued me from Golzine’s mansion? When... when Shorter died...”

Ash didn’t wince or give any outward sign of pain, but Phil saw a tension in Ash’s shoulders and around the eyes that spoke loud and clear about how the memory affected him. His voice was flat and calm when he said, “I remember. You were fine. You said you were fine. You said Dino didn’t hurt you.”

“And he didn’t. He... ah... ” Eiji’s face slowly turned red and he cast an embarrassed look at the rest of the room and everyone staring.

Ash, too, looked around and he took hold of Eiji’s arm. “Let’s go talk. Everyone around here’s so nosy.” 

They were nearly at the door when Eiji said, all innocent and concerned, “Did you tell them about the Banana Fish, yet?”

Ash froze in his tracks. “No.”

“No? But...”

Jessica, who had been watching Ash very closely and must have seen his unhappiness plainly on display, clapped her hands loudly and raised her voice. “And I think it’s time for introductions. We’re guests, so I think our hosts ought to know our friends who dropped in so unexpectedly. I’m afraid we’re going to wear out our welcome at this rate. How about everyone gather around and we can at least learn everyone’s name?” She waited while everyone did as she asked and moved closer to where she stood, which, Phil couldn’t help but notice, took all the attention off Ash and allowed him a chance to relax. When everyone was close enough for her approval, Jessica said, “Everyone, this is Ibe Shunichi, my very dear friend.”

“He’s OUR friend,” Max said. “I met him first.”

Jessica continued, “You can call him Ibe-san. Shunichi,” Jessica went to the Japanese man and put an arm around him, pulling him close to her side. “These are The Avengers.” She pointed them each out by name. “They’re helping us look after Ash while things are still dangerous. We’ve had very nice food and an excellent set of rooms given to us.”

Ibe-san smiled and gave a bow to the room. With a heavily accented voice, he said, “Thank you so much for helping to look after Ash. I hope me bringing Ei-chan over hasn’t been an imposition. He was so eager to see Ash. We were only in Japan for a short time before we’d heard Ash had gotten attacked and had to go for surgery, again...” Ibe-san shook his head, sadly. “Ei-chan is hurt, too, he was shot by people in another gang. He was to go back to Japan to recover, but when he’d heard about Ash, Ei-chan was so worried, it was hard for him to wait to get here.”

“No trouble, no trouble at all.” Tony, as he was, technically, the host, stepped forward. “Welcome to The Avengers Tower. I’ve had more visitors in the last two days than I have in years. It’s kind of weird. So, you’re Japanese by your accent, right? I’ve been to Japan a few times. Very impressive volcano.” He stopped talking and gestured to the kitchen. “You want to eat? I’m not real good at this sort of thing, but if you’re hungry we have food.”

Ibe-san said, “Thank you for the offer. I confess to being more tired than hungry, but travel is hard for me. And I find your hospitality most pleasing. I have rarely met such kindness, especially if I come so suddenly and meet with strangers. Your manners are very fine.”

It might have been flattery, but Ibe-san seemed sincere to Phil and his kindness actually flustered Tony who, Phil knew, was accustomed to disingenuous people who wanted to get on his good side for their own reasons or insults when his admittedly unpracticed people skills failed him. When Tony didn’t say anything and seemed at a loss, Phil stepped in and brought attention to himself. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ibe-san, and Eiji, too, of course. Can I presume you’re friends of Ash?”

Ibe-san nodded and cast a look over his shoulder to where Ash and Eiji stood a little apart. They weren’t talking, but stood close together and it seemed that Ash had suddenly lost a great deal of tension. He looked more at ease than Phil had seen him since they’d first met and Phil had the sudden impression, fanciful though it was, that merely the sight of Eiji had lifted a great weight off Ash. They looked perfectly content next to one another. Ibe-san motioned to Eiji. “Come meet Ash’s hosts, Ei-chan.”

Eiji walked carefully, but steadily and leaned only a little of his weight on his cane. He, like Ibe-san had done, bowed to the room. “Thank you for your hospitality and for taking care of our friends. I hope it hasn’t been too much trouble what with all the people who want to hurt Ash and the Banana- ”

“Hey!” Ash snapped so sharply that everyone turned to him. He frowned at Eiji and shook his head.

Eiji gave Ash a questioning look. “But...”

“No.”

“We talked about this, Ash,” Max said. “We have to tell everything. ALL the truth.”

Eiji looked up at Ash. “You don’t want to talk about Banana Fish? But, there are people out there - bad people - who know about it. What if one of the people who thinks you’re going to get them in trouble knows about it and decides to use what they know? They might tell the courts that they will tell all they know about the Banana Fish if they will be set free.”

The idea of any of the suspects going free obviously didn’t sit well with Ash. “I just want that garbage to disappear.”

“I know.” Eiji put a hand on Ash’s arm and, Phil noticed, Ash didn’t make any attempt to avoid the touch. “Ash, it’s not going to just disappear. Too many people know.”

“Fine. Right.”

Max let out a huff and looked aggrieved. “How come I can argue for a week and you won’t listen, but Eiji says one sentence and you jump?”

“He’s cuter than you.” Ash walked away from Eiji. He went to the window and looked down at the city, then moved to stand in front of the assembled Avengers. He said to Jessica, “Michael doesn’t need to hear this.”

Michael, from where he still sat at the kitchen table, let out a groan. “Don’t send me away, Ash. Please. I’m big enough to hear. I already hear all kinds of things. I know bad people hurt you and mommy and they want to hurt you more so daddy is protecting you. I wanna help keep the bad guys away.”

Ash softened and went to Michael. “I know you’d help, but I don’t want you to hear sad, scary things. You go play for a while, kay? Please?”

Michael didn’t look happy, but he took his mother’s hand and let himself be led away. 

Once Michael and Jessica had gone, Ash stuck his hands in his pockets, then said, “Right. The whole story. Fine. Dino was making this drug. Well, he was paying some doctor to make the drug. And it was bad stuff. Evil. It was a mind-control drug. Shoot someone up with that stuff and they’d really lose their mind. Literally. If they’re told to kill someone, even a friend or their own family, and they’ll do it. When the job’s done, they’ll kill themselves or they turn into a vegetable and get stuck in an endless nightmare and live the rest of their life in terror. Banana Fish. The drug is called Banana Fish. Dino was planning to use it on a big scale - like taking over the world’s heroin market and selling it to the U.S. government kinda big scale.”

Phil was stunned. “I’ve heard rumors of nations attempting to make a mind-control drug, but it’s never succeeded.”

“It worked. It was discovered by accident and both guys who did that are dead, now. I’m not gonna tell you how it’s made. I want that stuff forgotten. It was improved by the doctors at the National Institute of Mental Health so it didn’t have the unwanted violence, but the people who were given it were still forced to do whatever they were told. There’s no cure for it, no treatment.”

As Ash spoke, Phil felt a chill run down his spine. Uncontrollable violence? A vegetative state. His throat went dry. He looked at Max, standing just behind Ash, and saw that Max was watching him, grave and sad. Phil licked his lips and swallowed. “Max, the other day you told me Griffin had something to do with all this.”

Max said, “One of the creators of Banana Fish was... he was a military doctor and he used soldiers in the middle of the war to experiment on. Deaths could be explained as suicides or PTSD, I guess. He admitted the he used soldiers who’d been rude to him. He injected them with Banana Fish and then observed to see what happened. Griffin found out what he was doing and that doctor gave him Banana Fish to stop him from talking. For about the last eleven years, ever since that day when he broke and starting shooting everyone in our group, he was like a vegetable.”

“He used to drool on himself,” Ash’s voice was faint, almost ghostly. “I had to keep cleaning him up ‘cause he couldn’t do it himself. The military went and stuck him in this crummy vet hospital. No one cared, there. It was gross. There were bugs. The whole place was cold, too. Dark. I got him outta there. I couldn’t leave him. Damned place - those people didn’t even notice I took him. I was sixteen when I found him and I just picked him up and carried him out on my back. No one stopped me or even questioned me. They probably still don’t know he’s gone. I took him back to my apartment and I took care of him. He was so skinny.”

Phil put a hand over his eyes and counted to ten to calm himself. He thought of Griffin and realized with guilt that he hadn’t given much thought to his old friend in too long of a time. His work with S.H.I.E.L.D. and with The Avengers had taken up so much of his life. He’d just assumed that Griffin had been taken care of. A mind-control drug? Human experimentation? A wide-spread conspiracy to control the world? And all of that plotted by a pervert running a child prostitution club? Who could ever have guessed?

“I got sent to prison when I was seventeen,” Ash continued, his voice dull. “When I was in there, Griffin got killed. I left him with a doctor I knew to be taken care of when I was in prison, but Dino’s people went looking for a sample of Banana Fish that I got hold of and Griffin got shot by one of them. He died that night.”

Ash told the whole story, starting with how he’d been walking the streets one night and found a dying man, shot in the back, who gave him a vial of a mysterious powder and told him to ‘Go see Banana Fish’ and an address before he died. He told about many other people who’d been killed by Dino Golzine’s bid for power. A ten-year-old boy named Skipper, shot to death because he’d tried to defend Ash from one of Golzine’s henchmen. Ash’s step-mother, Jennifer, who’d died because the killer who’d tried to shoot Ash had bad aim. Ash’s closest friend, Shorter, who’d been killed for no other reason than Golzine had wanted to hurt Ash. Members of Ash’s gang caught up in the war, gang members from the Chinatown and Harlem gangs, all of them fighting to defeat Golzine and bring order back to their world on the streets. Ash told them about the violence and how they’d gone to California to investigate Banana Fish. He told them about being kidnapped, threatened, a knife fight, and shoot-outs and all the awful details that led up to a horrific battle inside Tony’s new department store with Colonel Foxx. Ash looked straight at Tony when he told how all those bodies had ended up in Tony’s department store. He ended by telling how Foxx and Golzine had died. “It was all for Banana Fish. In the end, all those people died for that stupid drug.”

At the end of his story, Ash was leaning against a wall, his arms crossed protectively over his chest.

It wasn’t fair. That was a foolish sentiment, Phil knew, but it was true all the same. Phil remembered when he’d last seen Griffin before that awful night when Griffin had picked up his gun and opened fire on his friends.

Memory-

“What are you writing?” Phil asked, sitting next to Griffin on his bunk.

“A letter.” Griffin had smiled as he’d written. “My littler brother is seven-years-old, now. He wrote me a letter and told me all about his birthday. Dad’s girlfriend, Jennifer, made him a cake. Chocolate Cake with coconut frosting. He got a kite and a sweater with a spaceship on it. He sounds so happy.” The look on Griffin’s face was nearly enough to break a heart. Sad and loving all at once, he wore the same look that Phil had seen on many soldiers who missed their far off children. “I can’t send him much, but I sent him some photos of the desert and he sounds like he liked them.”

“I’m sure he did. I suppose he’s also so proud of his big brother being a soldier?” Phil had meant it in a teasing way, but Griffin looked sad. 

“He was crying when I left. It was hard on him. I think it still is. I only joined up for him, you know. He’s too little to understand, but this is all for him. I’m going to send him to school. He’s smart. Real smart. I don’t think anyone else really understands how smart he is, but he could really do something with his life. So, if I can make a real career here, I can make sure he can go to college, if he wants. There wasn’t enough money for me to go to college; I didn’t even get passed high school. We needed money, so I dropped out when I was seventeen and started working. Bell-hop at the local hotel.” He looked bashful and uncomfortable, as if it were his fault that he’d had to go to work. He shrugged it away. “You know, it’s life. I don’t mind working, I really don’t, but I hope with the marines that I might make more money and be able to provide more for Ash. I don’t want him dropping out of school.”

End Memory-

And that was how Phil remembered Griffin - caring and gentle, concerned for his little brother’s well-fare and willing to work hard in order to advance that well-fare. To know that he died in such a way, for what amounted to nothing more than greed... it was appalling.

Steve stood up. For a moment, he said nothing and stared at the floor, but then he finally looked up and gave Ash a smile that was clearly strained. “Thank you for telling us. I’m sure it was hard.” He looked at Ibe-san and said, “Welcome, Ibe-san. It’s a pleasure to meet you. You, too, Eiji. I hope you enjoy your stay in America and while this isn’t the best of circumstances to be in, I hope you’ll be able to find something good while you’re here. Please, excuse me. I need to go.”

It was almost rude and that, for Steve, was worrying. Steve walked stiffly out of the room without another word or a single look over his shoulder.

Ash watched Steve go and what he was thinking, Phil couldn’t guess. He certainly didn’t look happy, but neither did he look angry. He looked down and, for just an instant, Phil thought he might have seen a troubled look and guessed that Ash found it odd that his hair didn’t shield him as it used to. “Well, if story-time is done...” he headed for the door, then hesitated. He shifted from foot-to-foot before he looked over his shoulder at Ibe-san, then went to Ibe-san and held out a hand. It was a rare instance of Ash initiating physical contact with someone. “Thanks for coming, Ibe-san.”

Ibe-san shook Ash’s hand. “Of course we came. Max said you were so hurt and Ei-chan wasn’t the only one who was worried about you.”

Ash smiled for Ibe-san. “Thanks. Really, thanks.” Then he headed back out of the room and said, “Come on, Eiji. We gotta talk.”

Eiji hurried after Ash, giving the impression of a loyal dog following his master’s lead. Somehow, he couldn’t really explain it, Phil doubted that was the case. Eiji did not strike him, in even the few short minutes he’d been in the Tower, to be anyone’s dog, not even Ash’s.

When Ash and Eiji left the last Phil heard of them, Eiji said, “I think the delicate American needs to rest more. You look tired.”

“And I think the sloppy Japanese is gonna hurt himself. Shouldn’t you be in your wheelchair? I don’t want you to fall.”

When the boys had gone, Phil asked the room at large, “Should we discuss accommodations?”

Ibe-san scratched the back of his head. “Forgive me. We hadn’t meant to impose; we can certainly find a hotel room. We came straight from the airport because we were so worried, you see. Ei-chan holds Ash dear and, I’m not ashamed to say I’m fond of the boy, too. He’s such a good boy.” He looked around at Phil’s team and asked, “You see that, don’t you? I know Ash is a little rough around the edges and he can be crude when he gets in a mood, but he is good.”

It was Clint who spoke first with a cheery, “Sure we can see what a good kid he is! Don’t you worry about that. I saw first hand how he tried to help someone, even when he’s still hurt. He’s been a nice house guest. Don’t you worry about him when he’s with us.”

“Sure, sure,” Tony added. “No complaints from anyone here. I’ve lived with a lot worse people than the kid. He’s very welcome here. And of course,” he waved a hand at Max. “His entourage, is welcome, too.” Tony paused and looked behind him at the others. “Anyone object to two more visitors? I’m sure I can find somewhere to put them.” When no one objected, Tony happily said, “And it looks like you and Eiji are welcome to stay, too. If you want.”

Phil said nothing. He didn’t want to discourage Tony from being friendly. Tony wasn’t accustomed to so much socializing, but he was trying and that sort of effort had to be applauded. However, Phil worried about Natasha, still and silent, their red-haired statue. He worried for Bruce who looked troubled and appeared to be trying to hide in the kitchen. Neither of them liked people, as a general rule. Bruce’s background had only ever taught him that people were dangerous. Natasha wasn’t exactly frightened of people, but she was uncomfortable around them because, as she’d once told Phil, 

“I don’t understand people. They make no sense.”

But neither of them spoke up and Phil wouldn’t embarrass either of them by drawing attention to them in that sort of situation. He would wait and deal with it privately and, if necessary, make arrangements for the both of them to have time secluded from the visitors or he would go back to his original plan and take Ash and company to a safe house far from the Tower. There was no reason in the Universe that Bruce and Natasha should be uncomfortable in their own home and he felt sure that, if he told Tony what he suspected, Tony would entirely agree with him and do whatever was needed to fix things for his team mates. In the meanwhile, Phil shook Ibe-san’s hand and excused himself to go after Steve.

The gym, of course.

There was an entire floor of The Avengers Tower dedicated to physical conditioning, whether that was the traditional gym with weights and treadmills that Steve preferred, the shooting range that both Clint and Natasha used, or the room used solely for yoga and meditation that Bruce practiced. Phil enjoyed use of the dojo, when he could get a sparing partner, and Tony... Tony had a room for playing pool in. Pool, Tony had insisted, could easily turn into a full-contact sport if one had an interesting opponent. Phil went straight to the gym where, as he’d expected, he found Steve apparently trying to kill a punching bag.

He was cautious as he approached Steve. Not that he thought Steve would hurt him if surprised, Steve had far too much control to have that sort of accident, but there was no point in taking chances. When he took in how furiously Steve punched the bags, how anger had set his face into a terrible grimace, Phil decided it was for the best to allow Steve to work out his anger. So he found a corner and prepared himself to wait. For a half-an-hour he waited. Steve broke two punching bags before he stopped. He stared down at the sand at his feet that had spilled out from the punching bags.

“It’s not right.” Steve didn’t look up from the floor. “It’s just not right. Everything that kid went through... now his brother? Those monsters were hurting little kids and experimenting on soldiers in the middle of war?” Steve walked to one side of the gym and then back the other way. “A doctor? A military doctor who’s supposed to be taking care of his soldiers? Steve glared at the wall in front of him and then, without further warning, swung his fist. He didn’t punch the wall. He stopped himself only a bare inch away, but he stopped himself from hitting the wall. But his hand shook when he brought it back to his side. He swung around and faced Phil. “Who knew about this? Someone had to know! It’s the military - there are reports and regulations! That sort of thing can’t just happen and no one finds out about it. Where were the officers? A criminal in New York just happened to be able to give an active duty doctor, in the middle of a war zone, drugs to experiment on the soldiers with? How did he get them to that doctor? Someone had to help him. Someone had to be covering up tracks and bodies.”

The outrage was understandable and expected. Steve had always loved the military, always admired soldiers who risked their lives to ensure freedom. To hear that his beloved military was, apparently, involved with Golzine’s Banana Fish must have woken a rage in Steve... it surely broke his heart.

“Phil, let me do one good thing. In all this nightmare, let me do just one good thing to make something right. I know I can’t really help the police in their work and I know there isn’t anything I can do to make Ash’s life normal, but there has to be something I can do.” Steve put one big hand over his eyes and his shoulders shook. “I can’t do nothing when everything is so wrong.”

There were no words at all that could comfort Steve. Phil had no easy answers, not a single answer that would make Steve feel better. Phil went to Steve and hugged him. Steve accepted the hug, probably better than any of the other Avengers would have. He let his body relax a bit and let Phil hold him until his breathing had evened out and he didn’t seem ready to break the next person he saw. When Phil felt Steve start to pull away, he stepped back and said, “We’ll think of something you can do to help.”

“Ash is the only survivor and and I don’t think he’ll accept help.” Steve shrugged and started to clean up the mess he’d made from the punching bags. “I have contacts in the military that I trust. I can have them start looking into how this could happen. The kids from Club Cod... not all of them were identified. If families can’t be found, they’ll still need decent burials, right?”

“Right.” Phil had, as he’d promised himself months ago, had a talk with Steve about money and informed him that he had a bank account that was currently being filled by his pay from S.H.I.E.L.D. for his work as an Avenger. He rarely used any of his money as Tony was unthinkingly generous and if he knew one of his friends needed something he would just buy it, but he knew he had it. It had turned out, thankfully, that no one at S.H.I.E.L.D. had been trying to keep his money from Steve, it had merely been an oversight that someone hadn’t told Steve about his new bank account. The result was that Steve had more money than he knew what to do with. To pay to have a bunch of nameless children buried was something Steve would happily empty his bank account for. “I know you’d like to help Ash, but I honestly think the only thing he really cares about right now is making the truth public so everyone knows what happened. To that end, making sure he gets to his court date is the best thing any of us can do.” He paused. “Although, maybe you would like to help with something else, something that I think Ash will appreciate.”

“Of course. What can I do?”

“J.A.R.V.I.S. and I found Ash’s brother. We know where Griffin Callenreese is and I think it would be good to have him buried in a veteran’s cemetery. He killed his fellow soldiers, but that wasn’t his fault. He’s still a veteran and deserves the honor of being laid to rest in a veteran’s cemetery. There’s paperwork to do and I want to ask Ash’s permission before anything is done, but would you like to help?”

A little light seemed to come back into Steve’s eyes as he considered the idea. “A decent burial. Yes.” He slowly nodded. “Yes, that would be very good. And, maybe, we can find out who else was given that drug and do the same for them?”

That Steve had to ask, as if he were afraid it would be too much trouble, made Phil’s heart go out to him. He had no doubt in the world that if he did refuse Steve, Steve would simply go out and find a way to do it on his own, but there were times when his confidence would falter in the modern world, so very different from the world he’d left behind.

“Sometimes, it doesn’t just feel like a couple of decades have passed,” Steve had once told Phil. “It feels like I’m on an alien planet where I hardly understand the language and society doesn’t make any sense. I’m not afraid of this alien world, but there are a lot of things that are still easier with help.”

And Phil would never refuse help to his team, his family. “I think we can do that. With J.A.R.V.I.S.’s help, my military connections and yours, we should be able to track down exactly what happened and find any soldiers who mysterious went on a violent rampage after coming into contact with that doctor Ash was talking about. Max told me he’d been researching Banana Fish for the last ten or so years so he’s bound to have information that will help.”

Steve retrieved a broom to clean up the sand that had spilled out of the broken punching bags (there had been more than a few broken punching bags so the broom had been deemed a logical addition to the gym) and was thoughtful as he tidied up his mess. “I think that would be good. It’s not a perfect fix, but giving those soldiers good burials will help.” Finally, he smiled. “Yes, it’s good. I’ll do it. We’ll do it.”

Ash-

Ash hadn’t expected to ever see Eiji again. In truth, he had expected to die when he’d gone in to face Foxx with Golzine as his hostage. But Eiji was back and Ash was still alive. He didn’t like that Eiji had come back to America. He’d meant what he’d said earlier, it was too dangerous. But he was selfishly glad Eiji had come back and he didn’t really understand why. Somehow, when Eiji was around, the whole world seemed to calm from the chaotic state Ash knew it to be. It was as if a raging storm settled into a gentle spring shower. 

“I’ve got a room,” Ash said to break the silence. “It’s different than the one Golzine made me stay in. Everything feels warm here.” It also felt safe. It shouldn’t have. He knew that J.A.R.V.I.S. was always watching, but the room felt safe. It was such a strange feeling. With Max and Jessica in the other room, he didn’t even feel like he had to lock the door of his room. “Jessica got me pajamas. They’re flannel and really warm.” They were plaid pajamas with long pants and a long sleeve top. Those made him feel safe, too, even in his sleep he was all covered up. Dino used to like having him wear expensive silk pajamas that had been cold and felt weird. Ash liked the flannel ones much better.

“I like them.” Eiji absently reached out and touched the sleeve of Ash’s pajamas, as if to test the softness, and said, “I heard you got stabbed and I thought you’d die. I thought you’d die and I’d be in Japan. I thought you’d die alone and I was scared for you.”

“Yeah, well, when you got shot, I kinda lost it for a bit.” That was an understatement. He’d killed the people who’d shot Eiji and he had tried to shoot Blanca. “I’m glad you’re alright. I’m really glad.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re alright, too. So,” Eiji put his hands on the bed beside him and closed his eyes. “Are we going to keep being awkward or do you want me to tell you what Dino did?”

No. Ash didn’t want to hear it. He definitely didn’t want his happy delusion that Eiji had merely been held prisoner spoiled by whatever Eiji was about to tell him. Ash stood up and stared at one of the pictures on the wall without really seeing it. “He touched you?”

“No.”

And Ash let out a breath, a quiet sigh of relief. “What happened?”

“He said he had a special job for me. His men made me go to a bedroom and they took my clothes.” Eiji’s voice went quiet and Ash didn’t turn to look at him. “I tried to fight, but they were bigger than me. I wasn’t strong enough.”

Ash winced. Those words were too close to home, too familiar. ‘They were bigger than me. I wasn’t strong enough.’ How often had he thought that?

“They tied me to the bed. They were laughing. Yut-Lung was there. He didn’t laugh. Then Dino came in and he was... he took off his clothes, too. He told Yut-Lung to take off his clothes and he did. Dino didn’t touch me, I promise, but he said he was going to and he told me what he was going to do and I was so scared. I don’t have the right words to tell you how scared I was. Dino was called away before he could do anything to me, but I saw him with Yut-Lung. He did touch Yut-Lung. Yut-Lung didn’t want it, didn’t like it. There was a moment when Dino turned away from him and Yut-Lung got a look of such sadness and pain on his face. I know he’s done awful things, but... oh, I wanted to cry for him. The second Dino looked back, Yut-Lung was all sweet smiles, again. Like he’d put on a mask.”

Ash rubbed his face with his hands. “Damn it. I don’t want to feel bad for that guy.”

“I’m not sure, but I think... I think maybe he grew up sort of like you did. Some of the things he’d said to me makes me think he wasn’t treated too nicely, either.”

“It’s still his fault Shorter died.” It didn’t feel right when Ash said it. He stubbornly held onto that thought, but it didn’t seem right. His mind began to run over everything he knew about Yut-Lung and everything he’d seen and heard since they’d found him in California. Yut-Lung had helped Ash get free at Dino’s mansion so he could save Eiji as well as Max and Ibe-san. If he’d really wanted them all dead, he wouldn’t have done that. He’d gotten Eiji and Sing out of jail and, apparently, Sing was helping him. Shorter had trained Sing, so it was likely he’d taught Sing good sense and he wouldn’t blindly trust someone entirely evil. Not to mention the fact that Eiji had told Sing everything that had led up to Shorter’s death, including Yut-Lung kidnapping them, and Sing, fiercely devoted to Shorter, still worked with Yut-Lung. “Maybe it’s his fault Shorter died. Maybe I need more information. I still don’t like him. And I still mean it when I say it’s too dangerous here. You should leave.”

“I know everything is dangerous, but I will stay. Do you remember what I promised? That night at the condo?”

“You’d make me keep eating those nasty tofu sandwiches?”

Eiji rolled his eyes. “No. The other promise.”

“You said you’d stay.”

“Even if the whole world turns against you, I will be on your side. And if you allow it, I will stay by your side - forever. I meant it then, Ash. I still mean it now. My word is my honor.” Eiji slipped a hand over Ash’s and gave it a squeeze. “I will stand with you and testify. You’re not doing this alone.”

Ash smiled. His heart felt warm. It was such an amazing, marvelous feeling. But, no matter what he wanted, he said, “You still shouldn’t be here. It’s not safe. I don’t want to see you hurt, again.”

Eiji sniffed and put his nose up in the air. “Too bad. You’re stuck with me.”

“You’re not listening!”

“Don’t care. You hungry? I’m getting food. Going to ask to use kitchen. Want nato? I want nato.” And Eiji used his cane to slowly stand and headed for the door, happily ignoring Ash’s protests.

Ash watched the door close behind Eiji and fell silent. Eiji and Ibe-san’s arrival had surely complicated things. Ash let his hands rest on his lap. Ash felt desperately unworthy of Eiji’s unfailing friendship and kindness. It was almost too much. Max, Jessica, Ibe-san, Captain Jenkins, Charlie, Nadia, all The Avengers, and Eiji... how could anyone deal with so much kindness? He was happy. Such a strange feeling! He was so very, very happy. Ash smiled to himself. “I’m the luckiest guy in the whole world.”

Later-  
Michael-

It was late when Michael woke with tears running down his face. There were monsters. Monsters were everywhere. He pulled his teddy bear to his face and sobbed into it. Monsters. Under the bed, in the shadows, monsters everywhere. When he finally stopped crying he realized his bed was wet. He’d had an accident and that almost set him off crying, again. Not fair. A nightmare and a wet bed. Not fair. He wanted mommy or daddy, but they were probably sleeping. Ash. He went to find Ash.

Michael crept into Ash’s bedroom, but Ash wasn’t there. Eiji was sleeping in Ash’s bed. Michael was half-asleep and it scared him that Ash wasn’t where he was supposed to be. But he wandered into the living room and saw that Ash had fallen asleep on the couch. He was covered up in blankets, too. It wasn’t even cold, but he had three blankets covering him up so much that Michael could hardly see Ash’s face. He was going to wake Ash up, but he felt bad about doing that because Ash was still hurt and he’d heard mommy and daddy talking and they said Ash wouldn’t get better unless he rested. 

Michael probably wasn’t supposed to know that. He had known for a while that grown-ups would change the subject if they knew he was listening and they never talked about important things around him. He knew things, of course. He heard things and saw things. He knew bad people wanted to hurt Ash and he knew Ash had been hurt a lot, just like mommy had been hurt. He knew daddy was angry a lot because of all that. He knew the policemen kept coming around to talk to Ash and he knew Ash was going to tell everyone about the bad people. He knew all of that, but he didn’t really understand and that made him nervous and worried. He wanted to wake Ash, but he shouldn’t because he wanted Ash to get well. He tried to puzzle out what to do when Ash rolled over, turning so Michael could see his back.

Ash had a gun. Michael saw it tucked into the back of Ash’s pajama pants. Michael knew all about guns. Mommy and daddy used guns and so did Ash. To keep safe. They weren’t toys, Daddy had once told Michael. Michael didn’t want to play with Ash’s gun. He wanted to be safe from the monsters and he just knew that if he had a gun, he would be safe. So he reached out for the gun.

To be continued...

A/N: Dear readers, sorry but the next chapter will be a little delayed. It should be posted the week after next Saturday.


	17. Monsters

Chapter 17: Monsters

The Avengers’ Tower-  
Ash-

The first night Eiji arrived at the Avengers’ Tower, he slept in Ash’s bed and Ash, after leaving him there to sleep, went to the sofa in the living room of Max and Jessica’s apartment. Everyone had long since gone to sleep. All was quiet and dark. Alone, but for his own thoughts, Ash put his elbows on his knees and leaned forward to rest his head on his hands. 

Eiji was back. 

Safe. 

Healthy.

Breathing. 

Alive. 

He hadn’t died. Ash had been so scared when he’d left Eiji in the hospital, pale and weak from a bullet that had been aimed at Ash, that Eiji would succumb. He had survived surgery well, Jessica had later told Ash, but Ash knew very well that there was possibility of infection after surgery and there was always something that could go wrong. But it hadn’t and Eiji had come back. He’d gotten back to safety and people he loved and he had come back to Ash. It felt like there was a weight on Ash’s shoulders that pressed at him to make sure nothing bad ever happened to Eiji, that he would get back to his parents and his sister. At that same time, deep in his heart, there was a warmth that terrified Ash because he wasn’t sure what it meant and it felt very important.

Ash sat up and rubbed his face. “Right. Enough of that. J.A.R.V.I.S., let’s see what that drone’s doing.”

He spent a couple of hours searching for Gregory and had to admit that J.A.R.V.I.S. was pretty damned amazing. He could search all of New York without much effort. As soon as he found Gregory - and he would find Gregory - he was going to have to kill him. Not only did Ash have to get the suitcase and destroy everything in it, but Gregory undoubtedly wanted Ash dead and Ash wasn’t ready to die - at least not until he’d given his testimony in court. He’d never fought Gregory, had never even seen him fight, but his instincts told Ash that Gregory was dangerous. Still, Ash was nearly recovered so he’d be able to put up a good fight. He’d checked, earlier, and both of his currently serious wounds - one from Foxx and one from Lao - seemed almost fine, to him. Max still worried about it. “Your definition of ‘fine’ and mine are a little different. It’s only been a few days, give yourself some time,” Max had said when Ash had mention how he was nearly healed. Ash had worked with worse wounds.

Several times in the night, Ash got up from the sofa. He peeked into Eiji’s room to make sure he was alright and each time he did, Eiji was sound asleep. It was very reassuring. He checked in on Michael, too, and he seemed fine. He considered checking on Max and Jessica, but he was very well aware that those two were getting remarried. Jessica had never gotten rid of her engagement ring after she and Max had divorced and she’d started to wear it, again. All things being considered, Ash most certainly didn’t want to walk into their bedroom and see... eww... marital relations. Gross. Besides, Max was as big as a barn and getting hit by him was like getting hit by a sledgehammer. Jessica had a pistol and a hand grenade in her purse and wasn’t afraid to use either of them. As far as Ash was concerned, anyone fool enough to attack them deserved everything they got.

It was near midnight when Ibe-san walked into the living room. There were circles around his eyes and his hair was messed up. “You should be sleeping, I think.”

Ash turned his attention away from the drone’s holographic view. “I’ll sleep, soon. I’ve got stuff to do.”

Ibe-san sat next to Ash on the sofa and yawned. Then he smiled and patted Ash on the shoulder. “I was very happy when I heard you would survive the attack. I was worried.”

Ibe-san confused Ash. He was an adult, but his bearing was so like Eiji that just being around him made Ash feel more at ease. He wasn’t like Max or Jessica, at all, he was soft-spoken and so gentle that he’d never even held a gun and Ash didn’t know anyone else he could say that about. Ash had the strange impulse to apologize, but he hadn’t done anything wrong and it wasn’t as if he’d wanted to get hurt. “You didn’t have to come back. I don’t want you n’ Eiji getting hurt, again.”

But Ibe-san chuckled. “You say it like I could stop him. Ash, don’t you know our Ei-chan? He makes up his mind and no one will change it for him. But I will tell you he is happy to be here. It was all his mother could do to convince him to take an airplane rather than trying to swim to America.”

Ash felt his stomach sink. “Ugg. His mom must hate me.”

“Why?”

“He almost died because of me. And now he ran away from home just because...”

“Because his very good friend, someone he likes and admires, was hurt and needed help. I will tell you that his mother sent him away with a hug and his father wished him well. They are proud that Ei-chan is decisive and strong-willed and able to see his way in life so clearly. And he told them about you. He is so proud to tell all about his treasured, precious Ash.”

Ash balked and leaned away from Ibe-san. “What? He said that? Why’d he say that? I ain’t done nuffin’ ta- ” Ash stopped himself when he heard his language falter. He took a breath. “I didn’t do anything to make him think we’re like... like... I didn’t touch him. I swear.”

But Ibe-san blinked, the very image of innocent confusion. “Sorry. Very sorry. Did I use the wrong word? English is so hard. Maybe I should say, ‘his dear friend’? Is that better?”

With a hard swallow, Ash nodded. “Yeah, that’s better.”

“How are you about going to court? Max and Jessica told me everything that is going on. It must be scary.”

Ash shrugged. “Not really. All I have to do is tell the truth. There’s more than enough evidence to put all those slime balls away for the rest of eternity. Unless someone’s bought the judge... or the jury... or evidence goes missing.” He didn’t say that there were people out trying to kill him, that they’d almost succeeded the other day in Chinatown and he didn’t say that his injuries had slowed him down so much he almost hadn’t been able to dodge the shot. He didn’t say that, in all honestly, he was terrified. He hadn’t told anyone that and he knew he probably wouldn’t. He was so scared that, as always, he kept thinking about everything that might go wrong. He should be trying to make Eiji and Ibe-san leave, again. He shouldn’t have involved Max and Jessica and Michael. He should have tried harder to keep them out of the whole mess because if anything happened to them... 

‘All these people to worry about... they should all go. If they go away, they’ll be safe. It’s better if they all leave me or if I leave them.’ Ash thought that just before a traitorous little thought screamed, ‘I don’t care, they’re my people and I want them! Can’t I have what I want - just once? No.’ Ash reprimanded himself. ‘It’s more important that they’re safe. Please, God, give this me this one thing and let Eiji stay safe. Let them all stay safe.’

Ibe-san said, “You’re a very brave young man. I’d be so scared I would shake. Jessica said the final battle was bad.”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s over, now.” And Ash really didn’t want to think about it much. It made him think of Foxx leering at him, laying on top of him. It made him think of Dino falling... Ash bit the inside of his cheek. He did NOT want to think about it! “Say,” Ash smiled at Ibe-san. “I’ve got a present for you. Everyone’s getting some, but this is yours.” Ash went to a duffel bag that held all his stuff - a change of clothes, a canvas wallet, and a small pile of envelopes. He took out one of the envelopes with Ibe-san’s name written on it. He gave the envelope to Ibe-san and said, “This is yours. Enjoy.”

Ibe-san smiled when he took the envelope, but that smile evaporated when he looked inside. “Ash... what is this?”

“My winnings. I robbed Dino and now everyone who helped me out gets some. It was stolen in the first place, so don’t feel guilty about it and...”

Ibe-san held up a hand. When Ash stopped talking, Ibe-san closed the envelope and he handed it back to Ash. “Ash, I know you mean well, but I am an adult. I don’t need your money.”

“What?” It was Ash’s experience that pretty much everyone wanted money. He tried to give it back to Ibe-san, but Ibe-san wouldn’t take it. “Look, it’s a present.”

“I’m not poor, Ash. I have a job and I’m very good at it. I am comfortable enough in life that I am able to bring Ei-chan and myself to America, live without an income for more than a year, fly Ei-chan and myself back to Japan, and then bring us both back here. I have money.” He looked confused. “Ash, I didn’t help you because I thought you would give me something. I helped because you are a good boy and you needed help. I wasn’t looking for a reward or... or payment.” He laughed at the idea, but Ash went cold.

‘Reward? Payment?’ Ash looked away. ‘Is that what this is? Is that what it looks like?’ Ash had a sudden flash of a memory. He’d been sitting in his room with Blanca, working on his strategy for his play-war with Blanca about the Battle of Thermopylae, when Dino had come in and given Blanca a pair of diamond cufflinks. “You’ve done such good work. You deserve it.” But Blanca had waved off the gift. “Thank you, but it’s not necessary. It is my great honor to be his teacher and you pay so generously. Besides, I don’t wear cufflinks.” When Ash had later asked why Blanca wouldn’t accept the gift, even if only to sell them and get some cash, Blanca had said, “Always be careful about gifts when they come from certain people. There are usually invisible strings attached. I don’t want the monsieur to think I owe him any favors.” And he went right back to helping Ash plan out a supply chain for the Persians.

Ash felt cold and ugly inside as he stared down at the envelope in his hands. “It’s just a present. I’m trying to be nice.”

“You ARE nice. I don’t need presents to know that.”

But Ash barely heard it and said, in a rush, “Look, it’s not about a reward or payment or bribe or whatever else you’re thinking! Dino used to give things to people who made him happy. Gold money clips, jewelry... that kind of garbage. He gave me stuff, too. Expensive stuff. He only did it to make people feel indebted to him or to make them want to do things for him in the future so they’d get more stuff. That’s not why I’m giving you this.” He held up the envelope and shook it at Ibe-san. “That’s not what this is about. I’m not like Dino! I just... I don’t want this money and it should do some good. So, you can have it. And I want to do something nice for Eiji but I don’t want him to think I’m being like Dino and if you think I am then maybe he’ll think that too, and...”

Ibe-san held up both hands. “Hey, now! Don’t get upset. I never thought you were anything like Golzine! Ei-chan certainly wouldn’t think that, either. I think a gift would make him happy, but it seems that you want to give Ei-chan something because you think you are obligated to - because he helped you. You aren’t. He made the choice to stay with you. It was his decision, not yours. He made the decision to fight for you. And, even if you don’t want to hear it, he made the decision to shield you from that bullet. You didn’t force him to do anything. So, if you’re going to give him something, do it because you want to, not to pay some kind of debt that only exists in your mind. And it’s very kind that you want to give me a gift, but I am being honest when I say I don’t need it. I wasn’t trying to insult you or imply anything. If it means so much to you, then I will take it, but I will probably give it to charities who will need it more than I do.”

Ash shrugged, as if the whole conversation didn’t matter. “I don’t care. Do whatever you want with it.” He picked up the controls of the drone. “Don’t think I’m like Dino, though. Please.”

“Of course not. I had only seen him a couple of times, but I know you are nothing like him. Nothing at all.” Ibe-san took the envelope from Ash. “There is an animal shelter I give to every year on New Year’s Day. This year, they will have a fine donation from my American nephew. Yes?”

A rosy blush rose up on Ash’s cheeks. Nephew? He wondered if Ibe-san had used the wrong word, again.

Ibe-san left after that. He looked about two minutes away from ruffling Ash’s hair, but restrained himself and left the room with a simple, “Get some sleep. You’ll feel better for it. Pleasant dreams.”

Ash waited until Ibe-san had gone before he looked back at the image of the drone’s view of the city. “Let’s start hunting.”

“Shouldn’t you sleep, Ash?” J.A.R.V.I.S. asked when it was nearing midnight. “Ibe-san is quite correct when he said you will feel better with sleep. Studies indicate that lack of sleep leads to many physical as well as psychological difficulties. If you are experiencing difficulty sleeping, you may find it helpful to know that common causes of sleep problems include stress, nightmares, physical pain, and depression. I believe you may have all these problems.”

“Thanks for the diagnosis.”

“You’re welcome. I will keep attention on the drone’s surveillance and will record anything I can reasonably assume you may wish to know about. I can also assure you that since you told everyone about that Banana Fish drug and that you suspect Gregory Dufort of having the research on it, Sir and Phil have also been searching for him. He will be found even if you sleep for a few hours.” 

That seemed reasonable and Ash couldn’t think of anything to argue about. Logically, he knew he should sleep, not just rest, but really sleep. He also knew it would make Max and Jessica happy and he’d found that, as time went on, their opinion had started to become important to him. He wasn’t sure when that had happened, but it was a fact. He wanted to please them and, perhaps, to make them proud. So he sighed and lay down on the sofa. “Okay. You win. Wake me up if anything happens.”

“I will wake you if I feel it’s necessary.”

Ash frowned. “That’s not what I said.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“You’re pretty sassy for a computer, know that?” Ash crossed his arms over his chest and tried to get comfortable. 

“I merely state the truth. If you chose not to like the truth, that is hardly my fault.” A few minutes passed and J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “You are not asleep.”

“Give some time!”

“Would you like me to talk to you? I can be very dull. I can recite the encyclopedia if that will help.”

“Which one? Have you got Encyclopedia Britannica? Last time I read that, I left off on an article about the Tripillya culture. You got that one? If you don’t, there was a good section about infrared astronomy. I wouldn’t mind that one, again.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. was quiet for a moment. “Given our game of Go, earlier, as well as your abnormal ease in solving the Rubix Cube, I had suspected that your I.Q. was above average. Your reading choices appears to confirm that. Am I correct?”

“I’m smart enough.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. let the subject drop and read to Ash about the Tripillya culture until Ash lay down and closed his eyes. He was comfortable enough on the sofa; he’d certainly slept in worse places. Everything was quiet. Everyone was safe. He still had things to do, but at that moment, it would be good to rest for a couple of hours. Eventually, he told J.A.R.V.I.S., “You can stop reading. I’ll sleep, now.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. quietly said, “As you wish. Pleasant dreams.”

Ash slept.

There were footsteps. Light, hesitant. Ash pushed himself away from sleep. His eyes opened and he found that he’d rolled onto his side while he’d slept and was facing the back of the sofa. His shoulders tensed when he heard another footstep creeping closer. Who? Max wouldn’t try to sneak up on him - he understood why that was a bad idea. Jessica wouldn’t because she didn’t sneak anywhere, she’d have walked right up and given him a shake if she wanted him to wake up. Eiji? No. He couldn’t sneak to save his life. Small, warm fingers brushed against Ash’s back right where his gun was. In a flash, Ash rolled over and lashed out a hand to seize the intruder and, at the exact same moment, the lights in the room all flashed on at once and J.A.R.V.I.S.’s voice loudly said, 

“MICHAEL! STOP!”

Michael. Ash blinked and focused and saw that he held Michael by the wrist. Michael blinked at Ash and smiled. “You’re awake!” Then he frowned up at the ceiling. “Don’t yell at me, please. It’s not nice.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. apologized for yelling and Michael forgave him and all the while they were talking, Ash felt like his brain was still half-asleep. He rubbed his face and tried to wake up, but it was so hard. “Michael? What... what d’you want with my gun?”

“I need to scare away the monsters.” Michael rocked back and forth on his feet. “I had a bad dream and there were monsters and mommy and daddy are sleeping so I want your gun so the monsters will go away. And I had an accident.” He said it with the open trust of a child who needed help and knew that help would be provided without punishment. He didn’t show any sign of shame or fear and Ash remembered his own childhood. There had been so many times when he’d been in Michael’s position, times when he hadn’t dared to ask for help, when he felt he’d drown in shame. Ash would chew off his right arm before he would break Michael’s trust.

Ash sat up and blinked. He rubbed his eyes and rolled his shoulders to wake himself up. A glance show that, yes, the front of Michael’s pajamas were wet. “No problem, kid. We can fix that.” Ash took Michael’s hand and they walked back to Michael’s bedroom. Ash changed the bed and put the dirty sheets in a pile in the corner. He discovered Michael didn’t have any extra pajamas and paused to consider for a moment before he went back into the living room and returned with his t-shirt. He was still wearing the sweat pants and shirt Jessica had gotten for him when he got out of the hospital, so his t-shirt made a fine nightshirt for Michael and covered him right to his knees. He used a towel from the bathroom to dry out the mattress of Michael’s bed as best as he could and, when that was all done, he said, aloud, “Where can I wash the sheets?”

J.A.R.V.I.S. answered, “There is a laundry room I can direct you to, but if you wait until morning, cleaning services will take all things away to be washed.”

“Naw. Why make extra work for them? I’ll deal with it.” He held Michael’s hand and they went to the laundry room. Ash let Michael help put in the laundry soap and turn the dials to start the machine going and Michael seemed to enjoy the new activities. They didn’t meet any of The Avengers in the halls and Ash, who couldn’t help the almost primal fear that Michael was going to get in trouble, even though good sense told him that was foolish, was relieved when they finally got back to their borrowed apartment. The mattress would take a while to dry so Ash took Michael to the sofa where he’d been sleeping and they sat together. “You sleep here, alright?” Ash said. “It’s real comfy and your bed will be dry tomorrow night.”

Michael nodded. “Thanks for helpin’. I don’t wanna sleep. There are monsters in my dreams.”

Ash sat next to Michael and nodded. “Yeah. That happens, sometimes. I dream about monsters, too.”

It made Michael smile and Ash was happy. Whoever would have thought that he’d be able to make someone feel safe? Talking to Michael made Ash feel strangely big and strong. The way Michael looked at him, as if he could solve every problem, fix everything that was wrong... he felt so important and that, honestly, worried him. He knew he was important, of course. There was no reason for false modesty. His gang needed him to keep their often hectic lives stable. He was smart and strong enough to keep the street gangs reasonably at peace and he knew they all looked to him for leadership. But for an innocent little child to look at him with those big, trusting eyes... it was an almost overpowering feeling but, without warning, the feeling twisted and Ash was suddenly small and not worthy of that trust. 

“So, yeah... uh, you wanna talk about the monsters?” That was what people said when kids had nightmares, right? He was pretty sure that was what he was supposed to say - Jennifer used to say stuff like that when Ash had bad dreams about what might happen to Griffin in the war.

“They hurt people.” Michael inched closer to Ash. “What kinda monsters do you dream about?”

“Scary ones.” Dino... Marvin... Frog... Arthur... Foxx... his baseball coach...so many monsters. He dreamed of eyes watching him in the dark, he dreamed of being weak and he dreamed of watching other people get hurt. He dreamed of Dino’s laugh, big and booming and echoing against the walls of Ash’s mind. He dreamed of becoming Dino. He dreamed that one day all Dino’s work would succeed and Ash would turn into a copy of Dino, doing whatever Dino wished not because he was forced to, but because he wanted to. He dreamed that he would be the next monsieur and he would be smoking cigars in the den and he would be ordering people to be killed while he sipped his brandy and he would like it, revel in the power... he dreamed he was the monster. But he smiled for Michael. “Don’t worry. I’m way scarier than the monsters so I won’t let them hurt you. Monsters have nightmares about me.”

That made Michael giggle. “You’re gonna be the best big brother ever. When mommy and daddy adopt you we can be real real brothers.” Michael took Ash’s hand and played absently with his fingers. “I always wanted to have a big brother and you’re the best.”

Ash swallowed hard passed a lump in his throat. “Aw, buddy, I don’t think that’s going to happen. I’m too old. No one wants to adopt someone my age. I’m a grown-up, now. They won’t want me.”

“Sure they will.”

Ash sighed and tucked the blanket he’d been using around Michael. “Tell you what - if your mommy and daddy say they want to adopt me and they really mean it, they aren’t just teasing me or something, then I think I’ll say ‘yes’.”

Michael’s eyes lit up. ‘Really?”

“Really. I think you’ve got an awesome family.” But he knew it wouldn’t happen. They had enough stuff to deal with and no sane person would want to invite all Ash’s problems into their family.

“Where’s your family?”

Ash went quiet for a time. He put his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands. “My mom left. I don’t know where she is. My dad doesn’t want me around - I’m too much trouble.” He smiled at Michael’s shocked face. “Oh, don’t get upset. After my mom left, my dad got a girlfriend and she was super nice. Her name was Jennifer and after my big brother went off to war, she’d make me brownies every Friday because she knew they were my favorite. She’d read stories to me and she walked me to school every day. She was real sweet, too. I never once heard her raise her voice, even when I was being a little brat and she probably should have yelled at me. She’d have loved you.”

Michael slipped off the sofa and ran back to his bedroom.

J.A.R.V.I.S. quietly asked, “Ash, would you like to me wake his parents?”

“No. I’ll take care of him. Let them sleep.”

“I am sorry to have yelled, earlier. I know you asked me not to watch Michael, but I felt it was important to let it be known that he was putting himself in danger.”

“Hey, you don’t see me blaming you.” He didn’t say how scared he’d been when he’d seen that it was Michael who’d tried to touch his gun. He didn’t say that he hadn’t been much older than Michael when he’d first picked up a gun and shot a man dead. He did not want Michael to have to pick up a gun. “I don’t want him hurt. I’d rather die than have him get hurt.”

“I’m sure it won’t come to that.”

Michael came back into the room, carrying his teddy bear and another one. The other one looked new and Ash hadn’t seen it before. Michael handed Ash the new teddy bear, then got back up onto the sofa. “Mister Rogers gave me that one, but he said I could give it to you and you look sad so you should have a teddy bear.” Michael leaned against Ash. “Are you sad ‘cause your Jennifer isn’t here?”

“Yeah. When I left home, I really missed her.”

“Where’s she now? Will she be mad when mommy and daddy adopt you?”

“... No. She won’t be mad. She only ever wanted me to be happy.” Then Ash grinned and ticked Michael on the ribs and let him giggle. “Are you sure you don’t want to sleep?”

“I’m sure. I’ll have more nightmares, again, and I’m not tired.” He yawned as he said it.

“Sure you’re not.”

Max-

It was late when Max woke up, almost morning. He got up as quietly as he could so as to not disturb anyone and went to check on the kids. Max stared at the scene he found in the living room for a moment before he started to grin. As quietly as he could, he found his cell phone and aimed it at the couch where Ash slept sitting up, his legs stretched out in front of him and his head tilted slightly to the side, a teddy bear held loosely in one arm. Michael lay curled up on the couch with his head on Ash’s lap. Max aimed the cell phone to take a photo, but stopped and frowned. 

He put the phone away. 

Ash didn’t like having his picture taken and he sure as heck wouldn’t want his picture taken when he was asleep. Max remembered what Ash had said about that Frog who’d snatched Ash off the streets and how he and his buddies had taken pictures while they’d raped little Ash. He remembered seeing the photographs they’d taken from Frog at gunpoint and how Ash had been unable to even face them when they’d had to look at those photographs. He’d hidden himself away in a shadow and kept his back to Max and Robert, ashamed and hurt.

No. No pictures - no matter how cute the scene or how much Max wanted to frame the picture of his boys and hang it on a wall, he wouldn’t do that to Ash.

Phil-

Considering all things, the morning went well. Eiji and Ibe-san slept late and Max asked that no one wake them. They both probably had jet-lag and Eiji was still healing. “At least Eiji’s bright enough to stay in bed when he’s told to.” Max said with a teasing smile aimed at Ash.

Ash made a rude gesture and drank his milk. He looked exhausted, but seemed steady enough. Not surprising when J.A.R.V.I.S. told Phil everything he’d observed the previous night with Ash staying up late with Eiji, then looking for Gregory, then taking care of Michael until nearly dawn... he hadn’t gotten more than an hour of sleep. That, like everything else in Ash’s life, would have to be addressed sooner or later. Slightly less worrying and more amusing was little Michael, sitting on his dad’s lap, his eyes half-closed as he made a valiant attempt to stay awake long enough to eat his oatmeal. Unlike Ash, Michael was clearly not accustomed to staying awake all night and desperately needed an early morning nap.

“He’ll be asleep within the hour,” Jessica judged, confidently. “So long as this doesn’t become a habit, I’m not going to worry.”

After breakfast, Tony made an offer for Michael that woke Michael up and nearly made him squeal with excitement. “Ash!” Michael tugged on Ash’s hand. “Let’s watch a movie! Mister Iron Man,” he pointed at Tony. “Said we can watch the really big T.V.!” He pointed enthusiastically at the huge television mounted on the wall of the common room. Ash allowed Michael to lead him over to the television.

“We have access to many movies you might be interested in, Master Glenreed,” J.A.R.V.I.S. announced. On the television screen, images of movies posters began to scroll slowly by. “Just say when you would like me to stop.”

Michael bounced up and down on his toes, but kept a firm hold of Ash’s hand. “Oh! Annie’s fun!”

J.A.R.V.I.S. froze the television on the image of a little red-haired girl standing next to a man.

Ash went pale and swallowed hard. He looked away from the television.

“You know,” Max spoke up. “I think Ash might like to see your favorite show, kid.” He knelt down next to his son and shot a look at Ash before he told Michael, “I’ll bet he’s never see it.”

But Michael frowned and whispered so loudly that everyone in the room could hear him. “But, dad, he’ll think I’m a baby!”

“Naw,” Max made an effort to laugh it off. “Everyone likes ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’.”

Michael’s eyes went suddenly wide and he peered around his dad to look at Steve. Michael seemed to hold his breath for a moment, then breathed out, “Mister Rogers!”

Everyone laughed. “Not the same one,” Max told him.

But Michael was tickled pink by the realization that there was a real Mister Rogers in the room and he decided that it was a good idea to watch that show. Before long, only Max, Jessica, Michael, Ash, and Phil were left in the room as everyone else gone off to take care of their own business. Twenty minutes later, Michael had fallen asleep on Ash’s lap. It did not escape Phil’s notice that Ash had stared at the television just as intently as Michael had while the show had played.

“People aren’t that nice.” Ash whispered the words when the show ended. He put his arms around Michael in an undeniably protective gesture. “That’s not real life.”

Jessica patted Ash on the arm and picked her son up. “I’ll put him to bed. Thanks for looking after him, Brat.”

Ash didn’t reply, but watched as the credits ran by at the end of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and, when it was over, stared at the empty screen. “Stupid show. No one is that nice. Not really.”

And it was at that very moment that Eiji, with his hair an untidy mop, walked in. He barely looked awake and looked around with half-opened eyes until he saw Ash on the couch. He didn’t say a word as he slowly went to the couch and sat next to Ash.

It seemed that Max couldn’t resist a chance to tease and he said to Ash, “You sure there’s no one in real life who’s that nice?”

Again, Ash said something rude, but then he turned his whole attention to Eiji. “Who’s the fragile little girl with low blood pressure now?” Ash laughed.

Eiji yawned and closed his eyes. He said something in Japanese and Ash poked at him and demanded to know what Eiji had said. Eiji smiled and didn’t open his eyes. “And you’re an elderly old man. You get up for early morning croquet?”

Max sat next to Ash on the couch. He made no move to touch Ash, no friendly pat on the shoulder or a hug, just sat there. “You never got to watch that show when you were a kid, did you?”

“We didn’t have a T.V.; there wasn’t enough money.” Then he went quiet and turned his face away from the television. “Dumb show.”

“Michael likes it. Maybe you could humor him once in a while and watch it with him.”

Ash shrugged. “Maybe. Once in a while.” He gave Max an amused look. “I learned how crayons are made.”

“Always a fascinating episode. Maybe next time, you’ll learn about playing the piano.”

Ash gave a half-hearted smile and settled in comfortably next to Eiji, who appeared to have fallen back asleep, and, as Phil watched, the troubled look on Ash’s face slid away and was replaced with contentment.

In an effort to give the boys a little solitude, Max and Phil left the room and went to Phil’s apartment. Once there, Phil said to Max, “He didn’t like ‘Annie’ for a reason.”

Max didn’t bother to refute it. “Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S.? Can you bring up a photo of Dino Golzine?”

The computer monitor on Phil’s desk turned on and J.A.R.V.I.S. put the image on. Immediately, Phil could see the resemblance between Dino Golzine and the character of Daddy Warbucks on ‘Annie’. Big men, bald, very wealthy. Max glared at the image of Golzine. “Golzine used to make Ash - all the kids - call him ‘Papa’, so yeah. Papa Dino and Daddy Warbucks? No. No, Ash didn’t like it. He wouldn’t do well with a movie showing a bald, rich guy bringing a love-starved orphan into his house. I don’t think it would matter how sympathetic they make him, Ash wouldn’t like it.”

“So you put on ‘Mister Roger’s Neighborhood’ and let him have a little quiet time?” To most people it might have seemed like a ridiculous idea to have Ash - a teenage trauma victim, an admitted killer, a gang-leader - watch ‘Mister Roger’s Neighborhood’, but Phil could see the sense it in. ‘Mister Roger’s Neighborhood’ was quiet and peaceful. The main adult was soft-spoken and remarkably gentle. To give Ash a calming twenty minutes with the benefit of showing him an example of how kind an adult could be... it was necessary.

Max shrugged. “Not me. Michael wanted to watch it and Ash will watch if it makes Michael happy.”

“You suggested it.”

“Yup. Now ask me if I feel guilty. He’s got to have some stress relief and if a little t.v. will help, I’ll give him all the t.v. he wants. And now Eiji’s here... I can’t tell you how glad I am that he came back. They’ll both be better off by being together. Everything’s bound to get easier, now.”

Elsewhere-  
Sing-

Alone on the streets, Sing was looking for Gregory. Looking alone and not telling any of his gang what he was doing probably wasn’t the brightest thing he’d ever done, but there wasn’t much choice. Like Ash had once told him - if anyone knew about Banana Fish, they’d die. It hadn’t been a threat, but a warning and, in hindsight, Sing could understand it. Such a powerful, horrible drug was valuable to certain people and those people were more than willing to kill to get it. If he got his gang involved, now, then it was too likely that the whole war might restart and more of his people would die. So he looked alone. Just after the attack at the Chang Dai he started looking for Gregory and he’d hunted through all of Chinatown, every street and alley, every building he could get into. Nothing. He’d then started looking outside Chinatown, slipping into other parts of the city because if there was any chance of finding the damned suitcase, then it had to be found. He would not let what happened to Shorter happen to anyone else if he could prevent it.

It was night when Sing heard the gunshot. It wasn’t unusual, of course, but it was close enough to catch his attention. When he heard the second gunshot, he started to move in that direction. Darkness had set in hours ago and the city was lit with streetlights and neon signs and the headlights of vehicles as they roamed the streets. The sounds of gunshots had come from a dark alley where the only light came from a security light hanging over the back door of a shoe store. The alley was filled with garbage cans and a couple of dumpsters, just like most alleys.

Sing looked into the alley and saw nothing. In the sleeves of his jacket, his hands wrapped around his blades. His whole body was tense and ready to move. He stepped into the alley and then saw, from the shadows at the opposite end of the alley, a figure stagger into view. It was a big person and, when that person moved under the security light, he saw that it was dark haired man. That man took only a few further steps before he fell to his knees and then collapsed entirely. Sing ran to him. 

“You alright?” But when he got close, he saw blood all over the man’s back - gunshot wounds. “Guess not.” He knelt down next to the man and put his fingers against the man’s throat, but couldn’t feel a pulse. He turned the man’s head to the side and put his hand over the man’s mouth and nose, but didn’t feel any breath. Dead.

Voices from where the man had come from made Sing look up. He quickly got to his feet and hid behind a few garbage cans, watching.

“Is he dead?”

“I didn’t miss.”

Two men walked into the alley, confident and easy. They didn’t even bother to conceal the guns in their hands or lower their voices and it seemed to Sing that it was blatant carelessness. The two men walked over to the dead man and rolled him over onto this back. One of them looked at the other accusingly. “This isn’t Blanca!”

Sing felt every hair stand up as a chill ran through him. 

“Well, it looked like him. How many people in one city are this big?”

“Apparently more than one.” He stood up and snorted. “You can’t just go around shooting everyone you think might be the target. Madam Shehata was very specific with her instructions and do you really want to go back to HYDRA headquarters and report that we ‘almost’ killed the right target?”

Sing reached into his pocket and found his cell phone. He discretely pulled it out just far enough to see the screen. He hit a few buttons and the cell phone started recording.

“Of course not, but it’s an easy mistake to make. Don’t worry about it. This city has enough murders, one more isn’t going to catch anyone’s attention. Have you had word from the other teams? Someone must have found him, by now. How hard can it be to kill one man?”

“I haven’t heard anything yet, but we’ll meet up at the rendezvous point and compare notes. And don’t dismiss Blanca like that. I’ve heard things about him. They say he’s a perfect weapon created by the Kremlin. Unstoppable and merciless. He’d as soon kill a person as look at them. A completely heartless monster in the form of a man. But he’s clever, too. He’s a doctor, a psychiatrist, and holds degrees in subjects ranging from ancient history to astronomy. He’s also charismatic. One smile and he has anyone he wants falling over themselves to get in his bed.”

“No one’s that good.”

“He is. That’s the rumor, anyway. What I’m getting at is - don’t think he’s like any other man. He isn’t. He doesn’t have feelings like normal people and he doesn’t think like us, either. He’s a weapon - nothing more.”

“You sound scared of him.”

“That’s because I’m not stupid.”

“We’re HYRDA soldiers. A single man, no matter how well trained, isn’t a match for the fifty soldiers sent out to find and eliminate him. Thema Shehata wants Blanca dead, so we kill him. His reputation is probably nothing but lies he told about himself in order to make himself more intimidating. I’m not falling for any such thing.”

Sing, still crouched in his hiding spot, glowered. Blanca, he knew, was not just a weapon. He wasn’t a heartless monster. He didn’t know Blanca well, had only met him a couple of times and fought at his side once, but Blanca was good. He had compassion and mercy. Sing knew that because when they’d rescued Ash from Golzine’s grip at a party Golzine had thrown, he had seen Blanca restrain Yut-Lung when Yut-Lung had tried to get involved with the fighting. That had shown his goodness in letting Ash escape as well as saving Yut-Lung’s life because Yut-Lung was certainly no fighter and would have been killed if he’d rushed into the battle without thinking. And, besides that, Blanca might be a real good shot, but he wasn’t some inhuman tool. Blanca smiled and laughed, he had a real soft spot for Ash and, from what Sing had seen, Yut-Lung. He was NOT a monster.

HYDRA. They’d said they were with HYRDA and they were trying to kill Blanca. Sing fingered his blades and got ready to attack. There were only two men and once they were dead on the ground with their victim, Sing would have time to contact Blanca and tell him he was in trouble. HYDRA, the well-known enemy of The Avengers... who were currently guarding Ash...

Sing wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but it was bad. He would have to contact Ash, as well, because it seemed that HYDRA wouldn’t get involved with a small time bodyguard like Blanca unless it was for a bigger prize. It couldn’t be to get at The Avengers because how would they know a simple bodyguard? It seemed much more likely to Sing that HYDRA had somehow found out about the Banana Fish and were out to get Ash, targeting Blanca to do it. Perhaps HYDRA was trying to goad The Avengers into some action that would leave Ash vulnerable. No matter how hurt Sing was about Lao’s death, he wouldn’t - couldn’t! - allow any possibility that Ash might be killed. Ash stood the best chance of finding Gregory and putting a final stop to Banana Fish and destroying Banana Fish took priority over Sing’s emotions.

Memory-

Eiji cried.

Sing had watched, uncomfortably, and couldn’t think of anything to say. He wasn’t used to people crying around him, especially not older guys.

“It was my fault.” Eiji put his hands up and covered his face. “All my fault. What happened to Shorter wasn’t Ash’s fault, he’d never have willingly hurt Shorter. Golzine’s people injected Shorter with the Banana Fish drug and he... Shorter just...” And Eiji started to sob. Eventually, he’d told Sing everything from the moment when he’d first met Ash to when Shorter had, under the influence of Banana Fish, tried to kill him. “He said he was in pain. He begged Ash to set him free.” Eiji took his hands away from his face and looked at Sing with such earnest eyes, as if pleading with him to understand. “It nearly killed Ash to do it, but that drug ruins people. Shorter might have survived, but his whole life would have been torture. Ash wouldn’t let anyone live like that; he’s too kind.”

There was something about Eiji, something that made Sing believe him. His explanation made sense and he didn’t see any sign that Eiji was lying. But it hurt, all the same. To think that Shorter, so strong and good, had been reduced to little more than a pitiful beast in the grips of Banana Fish... it was painful. Sing’s heart hurt just trying to imagine what Shorter must have been like in his last moments.

Sing had nodded. “I believe you. Thanks for telling me.” It still hurt, but the pain was better than not knowing, better than wondering what had happened and fearing he would never know. “Look, don’t cry. Alright? Shorter wouldn’t cry.”

Eiji looked aghast and stared at Sing with tears on his cheeks and bloodshot eyes. “Of course he would cry if his friend died! Shorter was a very kind, gentle person. Very sensitive. And I’m not just crying for Shorter, I’m crying for Ash who had to pull that trigger and for you because you look like you want to cry but you won’t let yourself. And I’m crying because if we can’t stop him, Golzine will let that drug loose on the world.”

End Memory-

And all that pain Eiji had shown when he’d spoken about Shorter’s death had made it clear that Banana Fish could never be allowed to be distributed into the world. Sing hardened himself and narrowed his eyes at the two killers in front of him. He raised his blades and...

His hands were seized without warning and Sing realized too late that there weren’t just two killers in the alley. A third man stood just behind Sing as he held onto Sing’s hands and yanked them up, far above Sing’s head.

“And looks like I found a little alley cat.” The man holding Sing’s hands grinned down at him. “And what are you doing prowling around here?” He almost laughed when he spoke and it angered Sing, stinging his pride. “Poor little thing, you’re going to get hurt creeping around in the dark.”

Sing sucked in a deep breath to whistle, knowing that he was near enough to a busy street that at least a few of his guys would hear and come running. He didn’t get so far as a single sound when one of the first two men Sing had seen slapped a hand over Sing’s mouth.

“No noise, alley cat. We wouldn’t want a commotion.”

Sing kicked out and kicked the man in front of him in a delicate spot which made him grunt in pain and stagger away. Sing then used the fact that his hands were being firmly held above his head to pull his feel up off the ground. Once off his feet, Sing kicked backwards and caught the man behind him in the knees. That man, too, let go of Sing. He was ready to run, but the third man swung a fist and caught Sing in the side of the head. Sing went down like a ton of bricks. He saw stars, actually saw little sparkling lights all around.

That third man knocked over one of the garbage cans Sing had been hiding behind and, from the rubbish that spilled out onto the ground, he picked up a broken broom handle. With that in hand, he looked down at Sing, not a trace of any emotion on his face - no anger or fear or even the sick glee some people got when they had the chance to hurt someone. He said, “I don’t think I’ll waste a bullet on you.”

Sing tried to whistle, again, but the man raised the broom handle over his head with both hands before he brought it screaming down at Sing and, suddenly, everything hurt.

To be continued...


	18. Room 245

Chapter 18: Room 245

Yut-Lung-

When Sing had fallen asleep because of his hangover, he’d slept very soundly. He didn’t move from his place on Yut-Lung’s sofa for hours and hardly even twitched in his sleep. That was probably for the best. Yut-Lung watched him sleep for a while, but he disliked being bored and Sing being asleep was astoundingly dull. So he retired to his greenhouse. It was his. Even when Wang-Lung had been alive and Yut-Lung had lived in the house at his eldest brother’s whim, the greenhouse had been his. No one else in the house used it because they had no reason to and Yut-Lung was entirely convinced that anyone else would kill his plants.

“You’re going to learn it,” Wang-Lung had once told little Yut-Lung. “Someone needs to learn the old ways and everyone else is too busy running the family business. So it falls to you.” Back then, Yut-Lung had been small enough that he’d cowered under his brother’s fearsome stare. Wang-Lung had then showed Yut-Lung the newly installed greenhouse. That had been the beginning of years of work. Yut-Lung had learned and he’d filled the greenhouse with all manner of interesting, often beautiful, deadly plants.

The day passed and night fell. All was well and Yut-Lung retired for the evening. He still slept in his own bed, in the room he’d always used. As the head of the family, for all practical purposes, he could have taken the much larger room Wang-Lung had used, but that left a foul taste in his mouth, so he stayed in his little room and was almost comfortable there. Almost.

It was after dawn when a brisk knock on his door woke him. “What it is?”

“Sir, there’s a problem in town. Master Sing has already left.”

Yut-Lung blinked at the ceiling. Slowly, he sat up. His long hair, tied into a braid to keep it from turning into an unbearable mess while he slept, hung over one shoulder. He looked at the door, then down at his lap. Left? Sing left? “Why?”

“There were shots fired at the Chang Dai restaurant. Master Sing used some rather colorful words before he left.”

Chang Dai. That had been Shorter Wong’s restaurant. His sister owned and ran it. Shorter’s home. His sister. He’d died for his sister, betrayed his friends to save her. The threat to Nadia Wong hadn’t been an idle one. Had Shorter refused to do what he’d been told, Wang-Lung would have had no moral qualms at all about having her killed.

‘And I helped. I did that. I used her to threaten Shorter and make him take Eiji away... my fault.’ Yut-Lung thought about being in Golzine’s bed and he thought about the horror and the stark fear in Eiji’s eyes at what had almost happened to him. Yut-Lung hadn’t helped him. ‘There was no help to give. That sort of thing is just... life... survival. It happens. Better to accept reality and live to fight another day.’ Despite that, he would admit to himself that he had felt the tiniest bit of relief when Golzine had left the room before he’d had a chance to touch Eiji. Not that he liked Eiji. Certainly not. It was just... well... whatever the reason, it certainly wasn’t because he liked Eiji or felt any kind of pity.

“Sir?”

“I’m awake, Fan. I’ll be right out. Tell me everything you know.”

While Yut-Lung dressed, Fan told him that all of Chinatown was in an uproar because of an attack on the Chang Dai. Rumors had spread like a wildfire, but the basics facts appeared to be that someone had shot at the Chang Dai. There had been witnesses. The large front window had been shattered. Ash Lynx and one of those Avengers had been there. “I expect Master Sing will bring more thorough news when he returns.”

Yut-Lung dressed in his new clothes. No more brightly colored robes for him. The day Hua-Lung stopped being himself and turned into little more than a doll Yut-Lung kept in the house, Yut-Lung had gone out and bought a whole closet full of western-style clothes. Suits and neckties and polished leather shoes. He’d bought a waistcoat and even pair of bright green sneakers. It was more satisfying than he could put into words that he was able to dress any way he pleased and there were no older brothers around to tell him how to dress and how to behave. He was even considering - how wonderfully rebellious it felt to know that his brothers never would have approved! - buying a leather jacket.

Once dressed and fully awake, Yut-Lung strode out of his room. Fan still stood there and gave a little bow to Yut-Lung. “Good morning, sir. What would you like me to do?”

“There isn’t much to do until Sing tells us what’s going on. Was he sober when he left? He didn’t drink, again?”

“Not that I could tell, sir. He was quite upset, as I said, and drove away on his motorcycle, but I’m sure he’s fine. You don’t need to worry.”

Yut-Lung shot a sour look at Fan. “I’m an NOT worrying! Go make breakfast or something!”

“Of course, sir.”

There really was nothing else to do. News did filter in as the soldiers belonging to the Lee family would return to the mansion, but there hadn’t been much more than what Fan had already reported. The day went on until an interesting, new bit of information was brought in. One of the soldiers walked in while Yut-Lung was eating breakfast and told him, “There’s a building near the Chang Dai that’s been taped off with police tape. I saw a bunch of people milling around, going in and out of the building. A few minutes later, two body bags were brought out and put in an unmarked van. A little while later the police tape was taken down and everyone left. It may have nothing to do with the Chang Dai, but I thought you should know.”

Yut-Lung waved the man away and looked at Fan. “Where’s my tea?”

“I’m sorry, sir,” Fan said as he collected the rest of the uneaten breakfast. “We appear to be out of tea. I can bring you coffee. Or Orange juice. I’ll go out and buy some tea bags this morning.”

Yut-Lung wrinkled his nose. “Never mind. Where is Sing? Isn’t he back, yet?”

“No, sir. I’ll keep an eye out and let you know the minute he returns.”

But Sing didn’t return. Yut-Lung waited a full hour before he couldn’t stand it any longer. He knew what he needed to do. He went back into the parlor, picked up the phone, and dialed. A moment later, a familiar, warm voice answered.

“Hello?”

“Blanca, you need to come here.”

“Good morning, Mister Yut-Lung. How are you?”

“Miserable! Someone just told me everything is in chaos on the streets, everyone’s in a panic. Someone just shot at the Chang Dai and Sing nearly had a fit. He took off on his motorcycle. If he gets shot I won’t have my best minion!”

“If you’re worried about Sing, it’s alright to say that.”

Yut-Lung fumed - he could practically hear Blanca grinning at him. He spluttered. “I am NOT worried! Oh, this is just too much. First Sing gets drunk because his brother died and I really don’t know why he’s upset about that, then I get some bothersome visit because someone saw that Gregory sneaking around and being suspicious, then I get a phone call from some woman who wants to do business with my vegetable of a brother and I’ve never even heard of her. Fan said she’s called Thema Shehata and she did business with Wang-Lung and with Golzine, so she’s probably a bit unsavory.” Yut-Lung continued with his despair, “And now we’ve run out of tea! There isn’t a single tea leaf in the house and Fan went to get tea bags at a store. Do tea leaves come in bags? And now Sing went and ran off into the middle of a riot or something and if Nadia Wong gets hurt Sing’s going to cry, again!”

“Now, now. Calm down. Sing is upset because he loved his brother - some people do, even if you didn’t. Learning that Gregory was around with that metal suitcase was very good information. Miss Wong is fine, I’m in Chinatown right now and I’m looking at her restaurant. She isn’t hurt, just a little shaken. Why don’t I come over and you can have Fan tell me all about Thema Shehata?”

Yut-Lung pretended to think about it, but answered more quickly than he’d intended to. “Yes. Come over. Come over quickly so we can control this whole thing. I won’t have Chinatown exploding under my feet.” Yut-Lung hung up the phone after speaking with Blanca and, rather than think about the mess of Chinatown, began to make notes in his head about what to talk about when Blanca arrived. Blanca would arrive because he didn’t lie. In fact, he was almost painfully honest. Coffee. Blanca drank coffee, not tea. Did they even have any coffee in the house? The minute Fan returned from buying teabags, Yut-Lung told him, “Blanca’s coming over and he needs to hear about that woman who called, so make yourself available to him. Do we have coffee? He likes coffee. And something to eat. I’m supposed to give guests food, aren’t I? Wang-Lung used to offer cigars to his guests, but those smell horrid. What would Blanca eat? Protein. He’s big, so he needs protein.”

“We do have coffee and a few sandwiches can easily be made ready for your guest. Would you like me to simply tell you about Councilwoman Shehata so you can tell your guest?”

“No. I want you to do it.”

The morning came and went and soon afternoon rolled by. Still, Sing didn’t return. No news of him was brought. Yut-Lung was certainly not worried about his minion. Sing was practical to have around, that was all. He was respected by the street gangs and, therefore, he kept Chinatown relatively peaceful. He was smart enough to talk business with and, unlike most of Yut-Lung’s brothers’ associates, Sing wasn’t afraid to tell Yut-Lung ‘no’ or argue with him, which was useful because arguing was usually how the two of them found solutions to the bigger problems they found in Chinatown. So, really, he was only concerned about his useful minion. It only floated through his mind once that Sing should drink water after getting drunk and he probably hadn’t eaten breakfast and did he want to stay small forever?!

It was well after midday when Yut-Lung’s imagination began to run away with him and it struck him that, maybe Sing had just gotten sick of Yut-Lung and decided to run away. And that was just impolite! And Selfish! Just abandoning Yut-Lung after he’d promised to help get Chinatown back in a civilized state. Yut-Lung was so upset by his thoughts that he stormed around the mansion for a little while before he went to the garden. He glared at the garden wall and yelled at a bird before he abruptly stopped.

Wang-Lung’s voice whispered, “Look at you... making such a spectacle. Not surprising considering your low breeding.”

Yut-Lung shivered and firmly pushed his mind away from Wang-Lung. He took a calming breath. It was more likely that Sing had decided to look for that suitcase that had upset him so much. He remembered, before news of Lao’s death had been delivered, Sing had told him, 

“Golzine is dead. That old fart finally kicked the bucket. You should have seen it. I had that suitcase and hung onto the building with one hand but I wasn’t strong enough and I was going to fall off the building, but Ash grabbed me and told me to drop the suitcase so I could climb up. I dropped it like he said, but then that Foxx guy was there and he put a gun to Ash’s head and was going to kill him if Ash didn’t let me fall to my death, but then Golzine just walks out of the shadows and puts a bullet in his brain. Then, after he saved Ash’s life, Golzine just stumbles over and falls off the building and into the inferno caused by the helicopter crash.” Sing had said it all with a great deal of waving his arms around as he stalked around the room. “I don’t get it. Was he trying to be a good guy at the end or what?”

That, of course, was silly. “He was preventing someone from stealing his property - Ash.” It seemed obvious to Yut-Lung, but Sing had looked at him as if he were mad. No matter. Sing was young and innocent and hadn’t seen the vile side of human nature, yet. He wasn’t stupid, though, nor was he a liar - a pity because Yut-Lung could appreciate a decent liar. Sing didn’t have a deceptive bone in his body and couldn’t lie to save his life, so Yut-Lung could obviously believe him when he said that a metal suitcase had what remained of the Banana Fish research in it. 

***

Shorter screamed, pulled his own hair, dug gouges in his chest as the filth of Banana Fish raged through him...

***

Yut-Lung shook his head to dispel the memory. He left the parlor and fairly marched down the halls of his mansion. ‘Mine,’ he’d thought as he watched the servants bow deferentially as he passed. ‘My mansion, not Wang-Lung’s. My home. My servants. My power.’ And, in the far depths of his mind where even he didn’t like to look too closely at what dwelled there, a voice that sounded frighteningly like his mother, said, ‘Get away. Go elsewhere. This place holds too many nightmares.’ But it didn’t hold as many nightmares as Hua-Lung’s mansion back in California did. He’d never go back there unless he decided to burn it down. That was a tempting idea, that place all in flames...

At the door of Hua-Lung’s room, Yut-Lung paused. He opened the door and there his brother lay on the bed in the dark. He was awake, Yut-Lung could see his eyes open and staring at the ceiling. As Yut-Lung watched, a tremor ran through Hua-Lung, his whole body shook. Then his arms and legs thrashed as a seizure took hold. It faded within seconds and Hua-Lung was left, again, staring silently at the ceiling.

Yut-Lung smiled. “At least Banana Fish did one useful thing.”

Blanca arrived an hour later, on foot, and he smiled when Fan showed him to the parlor where Yut-Lung was waiting. It was awkward to see Blanca after their tense parting, but Yut-Lung had a wonderful moment of relief when he saw Blanca standing in the parlor’s door. Blanca was big and strong and calm, always in control. Most days, Yut-Lung felt like his whole life was being thrown around by a tornado, so he desperately appreciated Blanca’s serenity.

Blanca-

In the parlor, Fan left Blanca alone with Yut-Lung. Yut-Lung was, just as Blanca knew he would be, sulking. He did that often. Blanca didn’t mind, Ash had been a sulky little thing at times, too. So he patiently stood by the door and waited. 

Yut-Lung sat on the sofa, one leg cross over his knee, and glared at Blanca. “It took you long enough to get here.”

“You’ll have to forgive me. I’ve been busy, lately.”

Yut-Lung sniffed and stood, abruptly. “You wanted to know about that Thema woman? Fan will tell you everything. She was very rude and she worked with Wang-Lung, so she’s sure to be horrible. No one who worked with him could have been decent. And Fan said she was involved with Golzine’s business.” Yut-Lung sauntered around the room. “You could ask Ash about her. If she worked with Golzine, then Ash may have met her. Wang-Lung often had me meet his business associates and I think Golzine probably did the same with Ash.”

“He did. I am aware of several times that Golzine used Ash in his business dealings.” And he’d hated the pain those times had caused Ash. It had been such a strange sensation, to feel pain for another person. He’d only ever felt such a thing with one other person before he’d met Ash and that had been with his dear wife. Blanca pulled his mind away from the painful memory of his wife. “Ash is currently in hiding to keep him safe before he testifies against the employees of Club Cod.”

Yut-Lung made a show of rolling his eyes. “As if you couldn’t find him. I know where he is.”

“Of course I know where he is, but I have been busy with a little task of my own.” He felt a glow of satisfaction as he thought about what he’d done to Angie. That had been nice. “Right now I am very interested in why a member of the World Security Council might have an interest in you.” Blanca leaned forward a little. “Do you know why you’ve attracted her interest?”

Yut-Lung looked shocked. “Me? I haven’t attracted anyone’s interest.” He tossed his long hair over one shoulder. “She was asking for my brother, not me. And why are you so interested in her?”

“She is in a powerful position and is an overseer of S.H.I.E.L.D. so I am understandably curious.”

They drank coffee and ate sandwiches - Yut-Lung found that he liked coffee much more than tea - while Fan told Blanca all about Councilwoman Thema Shehata.

“I’m afraid it’s not much,” Fan said. “She would call on occasion and visited twice, but I wasn’t privy to Wang-Lung’s business dealings.”

“Then it was business?” Blanca asked.

“Yes. From what very little I heard and saw, she would pay Wang-Lung to have people assassinated. On several occasions, poison was used,” Fan didn’t say so, but Yut-Lung knew very well that his poisons had been used to murder people. There was hardly any other reason Wang-Lung would have insisted he be trained in such things or given him a greenhouse filled with beautiful, fatal plants. “I never found out who had been killed or why, but Wang-Lung was more than happy to help out. I think he may have been getting something other than money as payment. I strongly suspect that she would do political favors for him. That would have suited Wang-Lung very well.”

Blanca nodded. “Yes, I think you’re right. Well, thank you for telling me everything that’s been happening. It is my belief that Thema Shehata is dangerous. I will strongly advise you to have no dealings with her at all, Mister Yut-Lung. I’m sure Sing is alright, he’s a very resourceful young man. Please don’t worry too much.”

Yut-Lung snorted. “I’m not worried! That little brat will get himself in trouble and then I’ll have to bail him out, again, that’s all. He should have contacted me about what happened to Nadia Wong. He had plenty of time to get there and find out what happened. He should have called. That’s what minions are for - telling the boss what’s going on. But, no! My minion has to think he’s a hero or something and go charging to the rescue.” 

“Are you angry at him?”

“Yes! No. I don’t know!” Yut-Lung threw back his head and pouted.

It almost made Blanca want to laugh, but he checked himself and waited out Yut-Lung’s sulk. It so reminded him of his early days with Ash, when his precious student had been moody and pouty, a foul-mouthed little child with more attitude than he knew what to do with. Ash had grown and Yut-Lung would, as well. If given time and proper guidance and...

A thought carefully slipped into his mind. He considered that thought and turned it this way and that, but could see no other flaws than it would delay his retirement by a few years. He stored the thought away for future consideration. As much as Blanca would have liked to spend the whole day, he simply didn’t have the time. He asked Fan a few more questions before he took his leave and he almost regretted doing so because when he stood and put his hat on, he saw a fleeting look of sadness on Yut-Lung’s face.

Before Blanca left, Yut-Lung asked, “Do you think Sing’s right? That suitcase Gregory has... does it have the Banana Fish?”

“I do. Sing isn’t a silly child nor is he prone to flights of fancy. The Banana Fish is still out there.”

Yut-Lung-

Yut-Lung waited all day for Sing to return. Sing didn’t. He waited for a phone call. None came. 

After Blanca’s visit and his curiosity about Thema Shehata, Yut-Lung found that his own curiosity had been stirred, but mostly because he wanted to be able to call Blanca and give him more information. The same way he’d found out so much about Blanca’s hidden life - with the internet - he started to dig around for information about Thema Shehata and what she might have wanted with the Lee family. 

Fan had been right - she had hired them for assassination jobs. Of course, there was nothing in the family records that blatantly came out and said that, but it was clear enough if one read between the lines. From there, he followed her around and while mostly she was as dull as a pile of dirt, he did run across little things here and there that seemed odd, but he couldn’t exactly say why. She did business with Golzine, so she may have been a customer of his club, but information about that was very hard to find. She would make regular visits to New Jersey and stay at a hotel very near The National Institute of Mental Health. She also had a bigger bank account than a person of her political position could justify. He didn’t see any evidence that she had any business other than being a member of the World Security Council and she hadn’t inherited money. He couldn’t seem to find where the money came from.

Fan found him like that, sitting in front of the computer in the office, frowning at it. “Sir? Is there a problem?”

“I’ve run into a wall.” It didn’t help his temper that he had the awful feeling Ash Lynx could have easily found the information with the computer skills he’d demonstrated when they’d first met. He crossed his arms. It had been easier to find out information about Blanca’s wife.

Blanca’s wife had been beautiful. In one of the photographs Yut-Lung had seen, it had been their wedding day. Blanca had been so young and smiled so openly at his new wife.

“Is Sing back, yet?” It was nearing dark.

“No, sir.”

“Right.” He sat back and scowled. He was going to give Sing such a lecture when he got back!

A full day later and Sing still hadn’t returned. 

Day turned into night and still, no Sing.

Yut-Lung woke up and still, no Sing.

Yut-Lung started his day. He unhappily dealt with several annoying people Sing liked to call ‘Chinatown’s community leaders’. More little details were dealt with throughout the day - paperwork, orders, flower arranging, corpse disposal... the normal things of life. All the while, Yut-Lung kept expecting Sing to show up because Sing always showed up. He never gave any warnings that he was coming over, he would just appear. Since the night Golzine had died, he had spent at least a few hours every day with Yut-Lung as they worked to stem the tide of violence in Chinatown that had exploded after Wang-Lung’s death. He would also call a couple of times during the day to make sure there were no crisis’ Yut-Lung had started that Sing needed to deal with. That would normally start a screaming match, partly because Yut-Lung resented the idea that he started trouble and partly because he enjoyed fighting with Sing. But that day, there was no visit and no phone call.

The afternoon came and went and as it did, Yut-Lung grew more and more upset. Not worried. Definitely not worried. When it came time for dinner, he sent word to the kitchen not to bother; he had no appetite. Instead, he went to his greenhouse and, alone there, took out his cell phone. He had Sing’s number, but when he called, there was no answer. He considered going to the Chang Dai, but that didn’t seem right. 

He had gone to the Chang Dai, but he’d only ever gone once. He had visited discreetly and waited until he’d seen Nadia Wong leave, locking the door behind her. He had picked the lock and slipped in - some unreasonable people might have called it ‘breaking and entering’ - and delivered Shorter’s knife. It had been the same long knife Shorter had threatened Yut-Lung with in California, when he’d had Yut-Lung pinned to a bed and cried on him. After everything that had followed Shorter abandoning his knife with Yut-Lung - the kidnapping, Shorter’s death, the war between Ash and Golzine, and everything else - Yut-Lung had kept Shorter’s knife. He had no reason to, there was no benefit to it, but he had kept it. And then everything was over and it didn’t seem right to keep it. So he’d taken it to the Chang Dai and had left it on an empty bed. There had only been two bedrooms in the apartment above the restaurant and he had to guess which one might have been Shorter’s, but one bedroom had a vase of flowers on the bedside table and the other had a pair of huge sneakers thrown haphazardly near the closet, so he took a wild guess at which room was Shorter’s and left the knife on the bed. He left as easily as he’d come and felt strangely good for leaving the knife. It had been a strange, completely illogical experience.

He didn’t go to the Chang Dai, but he did call only to get a recorded message that the restaurant was closed for personal reasons. It was most likely because Nadia Wong needed to replace the window that had been shot out, but the message didn’t say. He hung up and went back to waiting. Waiting felt wrong. He was uneasy and his stomach hurt. He didn’t want to wait. He watered every plant in the greenhouse and repotted a monk’s hood plant before he had made up his mind to go out and look for Sing himself. He would send all the soldiers out, too. If Sing was in Chinatown, he was sure to be found in only a few hours with so many people looking for him. He left the greenhouse and hurried to the house, but he was only halfway through the garden before Fan, in an unusual rush, nearly ran out to him.

“Sir! It was just reported to me that a dead man was found in an alley a few blocks from here.”

Yut-Lung blinked and frowned. “And? There are always dead people being found around here in alleys - Sing gets very upset about it. I don’t see why that’s anything to worry about. There are much more pressing things to be concerned about and some man who got himself killed is certainly able to wait until I find my minion. My other minion, you’re still one of my best minions, of course.” He started to walk passed Fan, but Fan stepped in front of him and blocked his path.

“I fear this may be an urgent matter. I have a description of the man as ‘over seven-feet-tall, shoulder-length black hair, Caucasian.’ He was also reportedly wearing a trench coat when he was found. Does that sound familiar?”

Yut-Lung narrowed his eyes. His gut felt dangerously queasy. A horrible chill ran down his spine and, from there, spread out all over his body. His mouth was dry and he had to choke out the word, “Blanca?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps a phone call...?”

Yut-Lung had his phone out of his pocket and was dialing in an instant. The phone rang twice before,

“Mister Yut-Lung? What can I do for you?”

And Yut-Lung nearly sagged with relief. His heart began to slow. “It seems the hunter is being hunted and it’s just too cliche. Why is someone hunting you?” He went on to tell Blanca what Fan had told him.

“I’m afraid I can’t give you many clues,” Blanca said after a moment of thought. “I’m sure I’ve offended people in the past, but most of them are dead, now. I am planning to kill Gregory. Perhaps he is feeling a little resentful and is attempting to kill me before I can find him. He must have seen someone who looked like me and thought he’d get a good shot in. But then, it could be nothing more than a wild coincidence that someone who happened to look like me got killed.”

“Right, well. Don’t let anyone kill you.”

“Of course not. Thank you for worrying about me.”

And, just like that, Yut-Lung felt stupid for calling because, naturally, no one had killed Blanca. Who could do such a thing? And it felt like Blanca might be making fun of him for being concerned. So he snapped, “Worried? About you? I was worried that I might have to find someone else to track down the Banana Fish!” He hung up without another word and regretted it at once. He might have called back, but Fan tapped his elbow.

“Sir, can I presume Mister Blanca is well?”

“Yes. He’s fine. Nothing wrong with him at all.”

“In that case, I have more information. The dead man was found by Miss Wong. Nadia Wong went out for the day and took a short-cut home through an alley. She’s the one who found the dead man.” Fan put a hand on Yut-Lung’s arm, steady and gentle. “Sir, she also found Master Sing.”

Yut-Lung took his arm away from Fan. “Well, I’ll give him a piece of my mind for staying away for so long! Just wait until I see that little urchin and...”

“Sir, you don’t understand. Please, come with me.”

Shortly Later-

Fan drove Yut-Lung to the local hospital.

The hospital smelled, as all hospitals did, of disinfectant. Everything was clean, polished to a shine. When Yut-Lung and Fan walked in, the front doors slid open automatically and slid closed behind them. Yut-Lung hadn’t been in a hospital in a very long time. There were people in unflattering blue scrubs here and there and a large waiting room full of people sitting in ugly chairs. A huge desk with three people working behind it sat under a sign marked ‘RECEPTION’ so Yut-Lung went there and got directions after he asked for Sing Soo-Ling. He found himself at the open door of room 245 and looked in to see Nadia Wong sitting at Sing’s bedside.

Sing was... broken. There were tubes and electrical monitors stuck on his body. His skin was pale where he wasn’t bruised and battered. His whole face was swollen, both eyes blackened, his nose covered with a white bandage. His head was wrapped in a bandage. Both arms were in casts. He was quiet. He looked small.

“Mister Lee. I didn’t know you’d heard about Sing.” Nadia Wong stood up and faced him with a weak smile. “Thank you for coming.” She gave him a respectful bow. She shouldn’t do that. Not her. Hadn’t Sing told her? Hadn’t Ash? He had delivered her brother to the monster. She should not bow her head to him. “He’s going to live, they think.” She turned back to Sing and lightly touched his face. “He’s very poorly off, but there’s hope. His doctor said it’s good that he’s young, young people can survive so much. He’s got a punctured lung and a bruised liver. Whoever did this... they broke his head. His doctors don’t know if there will be any permanent brain injury.”

“You found him?”

She nodded. “I don’t know why anyone would do this. He’s such a sweet boy. He was with a dead man and I don’t know what happened, but I thought Sing was dead, too. There was so much blood...”

Yut-Lung walked further into the room and stood on the opposite side of Sing’s bed from Nadia. He started to reach out to Sing, but stopped himself, sure that he might cause more harm.

“He’s not in any pain,” Nadia said. “His nurse told me they’ve got him on a very good painkiller, so he’s just sleeping.”

“His hair. They shaved his head.”

“They had to. They had to operate immediately.”

“Money,” Yut-Lung murmured. “His treatment will be expensive.”

“I have enough. I’ll take care of him.”

Yut-Lung felt such a hurricane of uncomfortable emotions. He was angry, naturally, but he was also sad. Sad that Nadia had to find Sing in such a state and sad that Sing had been left in some filthy, dark alley to die as if he’d been nothing more than a bag of garbage. And guilt... so much guilt. Why hadn’t he gone looking for Sing, earlier? He should have gone looking or sent his people out to hunt for Sing. He should have done something. He wanted to punish whoever had left Sing in that alley, but he didn’t know who to punish. Nadia was right - who would do this? Sing was universally liked and respected in Chinatown and hardly known outside it. He was smart and even-tempered, fair and just with the people under his command. The only possible explanation he could think of was that someone had targeted Sing because of his association with Yut-Lung. After all, Yut-Lung had plenty of enemies willing to kill. But who? A man loyal to his brothers? Someone who didn’t like the new rules he was trying to establish to get Chinatown civilized, again? Someone he’d offended personally?

Nadia was crying, soft and silent. Tears rolled down her cheeks in little rivers. Shorter had cried. Shorter was dead. Shorter was dead and that was Yut-Lung’s fault and... Ash? Could Ash have...? He blamed Yut-Lung for Shorter’s death and Sing was willingly working with Yut-Lung.

“Miss Wong, please be assured that Sing will lack for nothing. I will ensure he has the best of everything to help him. Fan,” Yut-Lung turned away from Sing and Nadia and started for the door. “Stay here and look after them.”

“But, sir...”

“Stay here!” Yut-Lung whirled around and snarled at Fan. “Do as you’re told. You say you’re loyal to me, then show it. You stay here and take care of them!” He didn’t wait for Fan to answer before he turned, again, and left the hospital. 

As he stalked down the sidewalk his thoughts changed quickly from “Would Ash do it?” to “Ash did it!”. He looked up and above all the other buildings, he saw the Avengers’ Tower. He knew Ash was being protected by them, had seen them with Ash as plain as day in the hospital’s waiting room when Sing had gone to see Lao. Yut-Lung’s pace quickened and his lips pinched together into a narrow line. Ash did it. Ash hurt Sing because he knew Sing was working with Yut-Lung and he saw it as Sing betraying Shorter, but the reason didn’t matter. Sing was hurt and needed to be protected from Ash.

To be continued...


	19. Ready and Willing

Chapter 19: Ready and Willing

The Avengers’ Tower-  
Phil-

After Phil and Max had spoken about Ash and Annie and Mister Roger’s Neighborhood, Max took his leave. “There’s work to be done,” he’d said. “Gotta talk to Robert about the court date and see about a therapist for Ash. It’s gonna be hard. He gets even the slightest hint of anything wrong and he won’t talk to them.”

“I can help with that,” Phil offered. “S.H.I.E.L.D. has a lot of resources and, given the work we do, we have an unfortunate number of people with various issues. As a result, we have several people who specialize in mental and emotional troubles. They all have different backgrounds and education, so I think there must be someone Ash will talk to.”

“Thanks. He said he’ll try, but it’s gonna be a battle. Anyway, he won’t talk to anyone until all the legal stuff is done, one way or the other.” At Phil’s questioning look, Max added, “He thinks it won’t look good if the court finds out the eye witness sees a shrink.”

“And it won’t help if anyone tries to argue with him, will it?”

“I doubt it. The kid’s as stubborn a mule.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It doesn’t help that he’s usually stubborn because he’s usually right.”

Max left then and Phil was alone with little to do but his daily paperwork. It wasn’t hard, just sign a few things and approve this or that. When it was finished, he turned his attention to the matter of the simmering tension Ash was causing around the world. While it wasn’t nice, Phil had to admit to a certain satisfaction in the fact that a victim of such abuse was able to make his powerful abusers shake in their boots. So he read over the reports Fury had sent him from the agents posted around the world.

“Got Ash’s list of suspects from the police,” Fury had written on the top page of the pile of reports. “Assigned agents as needed to the people more at risk of causing trouble. They’ll send word immediately if they notice something brewing.”

There was a separate report about the attack at the Chang Dai. While Fury and Phil had agreed not to interfere with police matters, that particular incident had involved Clint and, as he was both an Avenger and an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury felt no hesitation at all in having his people investigate. They had secured the area before police arrived and they had send a few discrete agents around the neighborhood to interview people who might have seen or heard anything relevant. Many had heard the shots and many had gone to see what had happened, every one of them expressing fear or anger about the attack on a young woman everyone described as a respectable pillar of the community, good-hearted and generous. It seemed she had a reputation for giving food away when hungry people came to her restaurant and had no way to pay. She didn’t even seem to mind feeding the local street gangs. Despite all that, it was still a mystery about who had killed the attackers and Fury really, really didn’t like mysteries.

When finished, Phil sat and thought. It all seemed good, or as good as such a situation could be. In fact, he’d been expecting more trouble. He sent a quick email to Fury asking if any of the members of the World Security Council had been making things difficult for him. Phil had expected something about them in Fury’s reports, but there had been nothing. Soon, he got a reply from Fury saying that there hadn’t been any trouble at all since Phil, Clint, and Natasha had lent their voices to his to convince the council remembers not to stand in the way of them guarding Ash. “I don’t know what Thema Shehata’s up to, but she’s been completely silent since The Avengers took Ash under their protection.” Fury had written. “Not sure what to think about that. She’s usually too stubborn to just give up. I thought she, at least, would keep making trouble.”

When all his work was done, Phil left his rooms and headed up for the common room where they’d left Ash and Eiji. They were just where Phil had left them, leaning against each other on the sofa. Eiji turned his head a little and smiled when he saw Phil, but said nothing and turned back around. Phil sat at the kitchen table with Steve and whispered, “J.A.R.V.I.S, how’s Ash doing?”

“He is sleeping.” J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded amused when he whispered back, as if he might laugh, but then a lot of things about humans seemed to amuse him. “I think we should keep Mister Okumura. Apparently, he is good for Ash’s health.”

“I think he’s right,” Steve said. He sat at the table with his sketch pad in front of him and a pencil in hand. He was drawing a face that Phil didn’t recognize. “The boys have been quiet and it’s peaceful up here. Nothing to report at all.” It was Steve’s turn to keep an eye on Ash and it seemed he might have an easy day of it. A piece of cake, as the old saying goes.

Things seemed calm all day, even after Ash woke up. Ash and Eiji spend the majority of their time together, often teasing and poking at each other when it seemed no one was paying attention. They didn’t talk about ‘big’ issues, but talked about friends and a favorite ice cream stand and the good fishing in Izumo. Phil watched it all and found that he agreed with J.A.R.V.I.S.’ assessment that Eiji was good for Ash. The tension in his shoulders had eased and his eyes were brighter when he talked to Eiji. They watched together as the drone searched the city and Ash told Eiji about the attack on the Chang Dai. Eiji told Ash about how his parents had fussed over him when he’d returned to Japan and his little sister wanted to know all about his wild American friends.

Lunch went well when everyone gathered together to eat. In fact, it was better than ‘well’, it was a roaring success because Ash had eaten. Not just nibbled or sipped some milk, but he had eaten a full meal - roast chicken and mashed potatoes - with a smile on his face. The fact that Eiji had sat next to Ash might have had something to do with it as neither Max, Jessica, or Ibe-san had seemed surprised to see Ash’s stronger appetite. 

After lunch, when people had gone to occupy themselves, Steve said to Phil, “We should tell Ash,” Steve didn’t look up from his drawing when he said it. It looked nearly complete, a young man with a wicked smile and dancing eyes. Phil and Steve had stayed at the kitchen table after lunch had ended. “About... you know... what you and J.A.R.V.I.S. found.” 

They both glanced briefly into the common room where Ash and Eiji were looking at a newspaper together, side-by-side on the sofa. It was oddly endearing. There was no physical signs that there was anything more to their relationship than friendship, but Phil had caught some lingering glances and, even as he watched them, he noticed Eiji gave Ash a little nudge on the shoulder as he laughed at something Ash said and, as he knew much of Ash’s history, he was surprised when Ash didn’t flinch away. In fact, Ash nudged Eiji back and they laughed, again. 

“It might be a good time. J.A.R.V.I.S., will you ask Max to come back to the kitchen?” 

“Certainly.”

And, moments later, Max walked in. “J.A.R.V.I.S. said you might want to see me. What’s going on?”

“I’d like to talk to you and Ash.” Phil said it loud enough that Ash turned to look at him. They all sat together at the kitchen table. Phil put his work away and Steve set his art aside. Phil folded his hands on the table in front of him and looked directly at Ash. There was no delicate or tactful way to say it. “We found your brother.”

Ash went still. He didn’t break eye-contact with Phil. His face was so eerily empty of all expression that Phil worried for him. Eiji silently put a hand on Ash’s arm. Ash blinked. “Where?”

Phil told him. “I found out that his body was found at the entrance of a hospital’s emergency room. It took a while for them to find out who he was and try to contact family. I’m not sure what happened, but a friend helped Griffin and paid for a decent burial. Captain Jenkins.”

“He’s a good man.” Ash still didn’t show any emotion.

Steve spoke up. “We thought, if you agree, Griffin could be moved to a veteran’s cemetery. I can make the arrangements for you. Or, maybe you need to talk to other family members before making a decision?”

“We have a dad. He’s...” Ash faltered. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to decide now,” Max said. “There’s time to think. Maybe you can go visit him?”

Ash’s eyebrows drew together and he looked away from all of them, even Eiji. He opened his mouth, but his phone rang and he took the opportunity to leave the table to answer it.

“Yeah? Hey. Yeah, I’ll be right down.” He stuck his phone back in his pocket and, without looking back at the table, said, “I need to meet someone downstairs. Eiji, walk with me.” It wasn’t a request, but it didn’t sound like an order, either. All the same, Eiji stood up as quickly as he was able to and left with Ash.

Steve, of course, followed.

Alone with just Max, again, Phil gave an apologetic shrug. “I didn’t mean to upset him.”

“I don’t think you upset him. I think he’s just...well... upset. Phil, thanks.” Max had tears in his eyes and he smiled at Phil. “For finding Griff. It’s good - real good - to know he wasn’t forgotten.”

Steve-

Steve didn’t stay right with Ash and Eiji. He kept a few yards behind and quietly told J.A.R.V.I.S., “Let them take the elevator down first and I’ll follow. Give them a few minutes alone, but don’t let them leave the building without me, please. I’ll take the next elevator.” To push his company on them in such a time seemed downright cruel and Steve couldn’t do it. From what he’d heard, Ash hadn’t even had a chance to say ‘good-bye’ to his brother.

Flashback-

Bucky fell.

The wind lashed at Steve’s face as he watched helplessly from the train as it roared over the deep gorge Bucky had fallen into.

Bucky screamed and that scream dragged on for a long time, so very long.

Steve watched. Bucky fell. He kept falling and, for all his magnificent strength, his near miraculous power, Steve could not nothing but watch until Bucky was gone.

End Flashback-

Steve blinked at the open elevator doors in front of him.

“Are you alright, Steve?” J.A.R.V.I.S. asked. “You have been staring at the elevator.”

“Ah. Yes, I’m fine. Sorry about that.” And he did his level best to push his mind away from his lost brother as he stepped into the elevator.

In the lobby of The Avengers’ Tower, Steve immediately spotted Ash and Eiji standing near a wall, watching the main doors. He moved close enough to keep an eye on his charge while still being tactful. Ash knew he was there. He looked at Steve and nodded, an acknowledgement.

Steve sat in one of the many chairs in the lobby put there for people waiting for appointments and picked up a newspaper to make it look as if he were simply minding his own business. He was close enough to hear Eiji say,

“It’s so kind they found Griffin for you.”

“Yeah. I guess.”

“Oh! Don’t be like that. They want to be nice to you. I think more people should be nice to you.”

Ash didn’t blush that Steve saw, but he did look momentarily flustered until his bravado surged forth and he half-turned away from Eiji. “Don’t get all soppy. I shouldn’t have dragged you down here. You go back upstairs and maybe Michael will let you read his ‘Little Engine That Could’ book so you can practice your reading.”

“Don’t be a jerk,” Eiji said without malice. He didn’t make any move to leave Ash.

Before long someone walked into the lobby who grabbed a lot of attention. Even Steve raised an eyebrow. The man was young, but clearly older than Ash. He wore denim vest and blue jeans and walked with a distinct, confidant swagger. He was huge with big, muscular arms and a neck as thick a tree trunk. nearly as big as Thor, and Steve couldn’t say that about many people. “Ash!”

Ash looked up and gave a casual wave. “Cain.”

“I come all the way down here and all I get is a wave?” Cain was bigger than Ash by far, nearly double his size. He easily outweighed Ash by a hundred pounds or more, but there wasn’t an ounce of fat on him. He looked over at Eiji and gave a friendly nod before he said to Ash, “You said you wanted to see me, so what’s happening?” 

“Stuff and things I’m not talking about in public. Look, we need a meeting, later. Stuff to talk about. Ya know? And I gotta give you this.” He pulled an envelope out of his back pocket and handed it to Cain. “It’s for your guys, everyone who fought against Golzine.”

Cain looked in the envelope and whistled. Then he wordlessly put the envelope in his pocket. “Say, I heard about Lao. How’s Sing takin’ it?”

Ash shrugged. “You know.”

“Yeah. I hear ya. It’s never easy. He’s good guy, though, and smart. He’ll be alright.”

Cain and Ash said their goodbyes, but before Ash and Eiji could get back to the elevator a new voice shouted out, “You! You stay right there!”

Everyone in the lobby turned to the newcomer and Ash narrowed his eyes.

The newcomer was younger and even smaller than Ash. He was Asian and had very long hair tied at the back of his neck. He walked towards Ash with fury in every footstep. The people in the lobby got out of his way, but everyone stared at the spectacle he made. “What do you think you’re doing?!” The boy hissed when he drew close enough to be heard without yelling. “I didn’t think you were so low, so vindictive you could do that!”

Steve discretely said, “J.A.R.V.I.S., maybe you can tell Phil we might need him down here?” Without waiting for an answer, Steve stepped between the two boys. “Alright, let’s just calm down...”

“I won’t stand for it, you animal!” The newcomer just moved around Steve, ignoring him entirely. “Sing is just a child!”

And that grabbed Ash’s attention. “What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything to Sing.”

“Oh, you didn’t? Then name one person who holds a grudge against him! Just one! You can’t!” He didn’t give Ash time to answer. “But you, oh, you must really hate the idea that Shorter Wong’s little pup is now trailing around at MY side. You think he betrayed Shorter by helping his killer!”

Ash snarled back, “What are you talking about?!”

Steve let out a loud whistle and everyone looked at him. “I think this isn’t a conversation for the public. Let’s go somewhere and talk.”

He led the three boys to one of the conference rooms. Tony used it for business, but Steve didn’t think Tony would mind them using it for a few minutes. The conference room was, like the rest of the tower, very modern looking, all glass and black metal. It didn’t seem to make any difference where they were; the new boy and Ash kept yelling at each other.

“This is Lee Yut-Lung,” Eiji told Steve when they arrived in the conference room. “He lives in Chinatown, like some of our other friends. He did some very bad things, but he’s important in Chinatown. He runs the big family.”

Ash and Yut-Lung looked like they might comes to blows and it was then, thankfully, that Phil walked in. He had experience and training in dealing with such volatile situations and took the yelling in stride. Unfortunately, Max followed Phil in and didn’t have the same restraint. He took one look at Yut-Lung and suddenly looked like he might explode.

“The Hell are you doing here?!”

“I’m here to tell that one,” Yut-Lung jabbed a finger at Ash. “To keep away from Sing! He was found in an alley beat half to death. He’s in the hospital now. ”

“I told you, I didn’t do anything to him! Why would I hurt Sing? He helped me fight Golzine. I almost died saving him from Foxx! Besides, I’m practically under arrest here. These people don’t let me out of their sights so I wouldn’t have been able to do something like that.”

Yut-Lung opened his mouth, then stopped. He seemed to think about it and finally crossed his arms. “Well, if it wasn’t you, then who did it? Everyone likes Sing. No one has any reason to hurt him.”

“Just like no one ever had any reason to want to hurt Jessica.” Max spoke with a low growl and put a heavy hand down on Ash’s shoulder. It made Ash look up at Max, but Max was watching Yut-Lung. There were tears in Max’s eyes along with anger. “Why did you do it? Why did you go after Jessica? For God’s sake, you could have got what you wanted just holding her hostage.”

“Who’s Jessica?”

“My wife!” Max thundered. “You think I don’t know what you ordered those men to do?!”

Yut-Lung crossed his arms over his chest. “What men? What are you talking about?”

“You ordered your men to rape my wife to get Ash and I out of the way so you could kidnap Shorter and Eiji. They forced my son to watch it. He still has nightmares!”

Steve looked at Max and then Yut-Lung, stunned. That... that couldn’t be right. Yut-Lung was just a child himself. Surely, he couldn’t have...

“Knock it off,” Ash told Max, though he didn’t look away from Yut-Lung. He was quiet for a moment, then said, “You didn’t do it, did you? You didn’t order those rats to rape Jessica.”

There was such a look of horror on Yut-Lung’s face that Phil honestly thought the boy might make himself sick. His hands twisted into fists and his lips curled away from his teeth in a savage grimace as he hissed, “I would never - NEVER! - order that done to a mother and her child! I am NOT my brothers!” He was shaking, he was so angry.

Max didn’t react at all to Yut-Lung’s denial, but asked Ash, “How do you know he’s not to blame?”

“Those men... they wouldn’t take orders from a kid.” Ash turned back to Yut-Lung with a thoughtful expression. “Eiji tells me just about everything. He told me your brothers had sent you to Golzine as a present. Eiji said you were all dressed up in jewels and silk and make-up and there’s only one reason a sixteen-year-old is going to be sent to Golzine looking like that.”

Yut-Lung scowled, but kept his chin up.

Ash continued, “Your own brothers treat you like that and I’m going to guess none of their people will take your orders. What did Wang-Lung tell you to do?”

“To get you back to New York.” Yut-Lung moved closer to Max and looked up at him. “I was to get Ash back to New York and I was planning to drug all of you just as I did Ibe-san, but I was told by Hua-Lung to use Shorter to kidnap Eiji to do it. Then you got that phone call from your wife and you took Ash away. I didn’t know what they did to your wife. Hua-Lung probably sent them.”

“Why? If you didn’t ask for help, why would your brother send his men to do THAT? Jessica never hurt anyone, she wasn’t involved in anything.” Max almost spit the words.

“He probably wanted to be able to tell Wang-Lung that he helped in the job to make himself look good. He also just liked hurting people.”

Every time Steve learned more about Ash’s life he was saddened and angered by what Ash had been made to live through. It wasn’t just Ash, though. His friends had suffered simply because they’d tried to help him and now, it seemed, even people who weren’t friends with Ash had also suffered and it looked like all that pain could be traced back to Dino Golzine. He felt such pity for Yut-Lung, to be treated like that by his own family... Steve couldn’t imagine treating family like that. He thought of his team and felt sick just imagining anyone treating them in such a way.

Steve glanced over at Phil and raised an eyebrow. Phil nodded and that told Steve clearly that Phil believed Yut-Lung’s explanation. Phil was an excellent judge of peoples honesty and Steve was confident in trusting Phil’s judgment. Ash had been watching Yut-Lung while he spoke to Max and when Yut-Lung stopped speaking, Ash announced, “Yeah. He’s telling the truth. He didn’t know what they did to Jessica. Go tell her what you know, pops. I’ll be back.”

“Where are we going?” Steve asked.

“To the hospital, of course. The kid’s hurt.”

And so Steve followed along as Ash, Eiji, and Yut-Lung went to the local hospital.

Steve drove everyone in one of Tony’s cars, a mini-van, and it was a silent, uncomfortable ride. When Steve finally parked in the hospital’s parking lot he barely stopped before all three of the boys were climbing out of the van. Ash couldn’t bring his weapons into the hospital and so he left them in the van when they all piled out, tucking both gun and knife out of sight under his seat. They stayed silent as they walked through the hospital’s hall and no one spoke until they arrived at a door with an Asian person standing outside.

“Has anything happened, Fan?” Yut-Lung asked.

“No. Everything’s been quiet.”

Yut-Lung nodded before he opened the door and everyone went in.

Sing was very young, just as Yut-Lung had said, and was in a truly pitiful state. Steve had seen people survive worse, but it still didn’t look good. Yut-Lung stood near the boy’s bed. There was a young woman Steve didn’t recognize, an Asian woman perhaps twenty-five-years-old or so. She could easily be judged to be attractive with short dark hair and a solemn expression on her face while she patted Sing’s hand. She thanked Yut-Lung for coming again and smiled at Ash when she lightly touched his arm.

“Are you sure you should be here?” The young woman asked. “Is it safe for you?”

“It’s fine. I got my babysitter.” Ash jerked a thumb at Steve. “Hey, this is Nadia Wong, a friend. Where’s his stuff, Nadia? His clothes?”

Nadia went to a small cabinet next to the bed and pulled out a handful of things. “Charlie took his clothes - for evidence. He said... maybe there would be a hair from the attacker or a fingernail or some blood... some kind of evidence. He left the things that were in Sing’s pockets.” She handed Ash a canvas wallet, a half-a-pack of bubble gum, a handful of coins, and a pocket knife. 

Ash dug through the wallet, disregarding fifteen dollars and what appeared to be counterfeit identification, and frowned.

“Anything else? Did you find anything else with him?”

“That was everything that was in his pockets. Is something missing?”

“The money. I gave you that envelope? Well, I gave him one, too, and it’s not here.”

Yut-Lung added, “He always carries a cell phone. Always. It’s not here.”

Ash looked at Sing, then at window. He closed his eyes and went quite still. Steve didn’t miss that both Nadia Wong and Yut-Lung both stared at him, waiting. While Ash was thinking, Eiji sat next to Sing and lightly patted his hand. He spoke softly to Nadia and tried to comfort her. Yut-Lung promised guards would be placed in Sing’s room to make sure the attacker wouldn’t try to finish the job and kill Sing while he was in the hospital. Still, Ash was quiet. After several moments of thinking, Ash spat out a curse turned and walked out of the room.

Steve found him in the hall, standing with his back against a wall, glaring at his feet.

“Ash? Do you need to talk?”

“I get people wanting to hurt me, I’m used to it, but Sing’s a good kid. He doesn’t deserve to get hurt like that. I hope whoever did that to him didn’t... I hope they only beat him and didn’t do anything worse.” He finally looked up at Steve. “There’s worse stuff than getting a beating.”

Steve found it unspeakably sad that Ash was used to people wanting to hurt him and that Ash spoke about things ‘worse than a beating’ with such a voice of experience. “Do you really think it might have?”

Ash made a bitter sound that might have been a laugh. “There’s a lotta sickos out in the world. Finding a young kid like Sing all alone at night? Yeah, someone might have. He’s a good fighter, though, so I think there might have been more than one person.”

Steve went to stand next to Ash. “I wish I could understand what you went though because then I might know what to say.”

“Nothing like that ever happened to you?”

“No. Well... not when I was a kid. When I became,” Steve gestured to his ‘new and improved’ body. “Captain America, I started to get a lot of attention. The closest I can say I ever got to your situation was with enthusiastic women. I remember there was one woman in the army. I’d gone to talk with someone and I think she was their secretary or something. She took one look at me and just grabbed me. She yanked me into a dark corner and just started kissing me and she put her hands...” Steve broke off. His stomach churned. “Well, everyone had a good laugh about it when I told my friends.”

“A good laugh?” Ash was staring at him. “Your friends laughed?”

“They said I was lucky. She was real pretty. There was this girl I liked back then and she saw it. She was awful mad and didn’t want to listen when I tried to explain. I think she thought it was my fault.”

Ash closed his eyes and tipped his head back until it touched the wall. “Dude, you were assaulted.”

“What? No. It’s not like what happened to you.”

“Someone grabbed you when you didn’t want to be grabbed and kissed you when you didn’t want to be kissed. She put her hands all over you. That’s assault. And then your ‘friends’ laughed about it? Your girlfriend blamed you?”

“Look, it’s not like that. She was a woman and a heck of a lot smaller than me. My buddies said she must have thought I was really good-looking to do that.”

“What’s that matter? In Club Cod, there were loads of women customers. They were just as filthy as the men, just as perverted.”

Steve wished he hadn’t said anything. It wasn’t like Ash imagined. Women didn’t assault men. She hadn’t been a real threat to him, there was no way she could have physically hurt him, so... it was different. Ash had been a child when woman had hurt him, not a grown man who was supposed to be able to look after himself even if the situation had been embarrassing and made him feel small and dirty. And it wasn’t as if he could have fought her off, he was so strong by then that if he’d even just pushed her away, he might have really hurt her.

Ash continued, “She shouldn’t have touched you without permission. Jeeze, think about if it was the other way around. What if a man had grabbed a woman because he thought she was really good-looking and pulled her into a dark corner and started touching her? Would that be right?”

“Of course not!”

“Then it’s not alright for a girl to do it to a guy!” Ash said, sharply. “People who do that kinda stuff are garbage!”

Steve tried to hush Ash as they were in a hospital. “And it’s not as if it’s the only time that ever happened. Ever since I became Captain America it seems there are a lot of women out there who like to touch.” He’d lost track of the number of times when some woman had grabbed his backside or stolen a kiss when he made an appearance as Captain America. Waking up in a different time hadn’t changed that, though, when he thought about it, his friends did get irritable if they saw it happen. Natasha had once threatened to break a woman’s hand if she couldn’t keep it to herself.

Ash moved away from the wall, taking a few steps away from Steve. “Everyone keeps telling me I need to talk to a therapist. Well, you might want to think about that, too, ‘cause what those women did to you was wrong and you don’t have to just stand there and take it because you’re a man and you’re stronger than they are. It’s not right. No one should be treated like that.”

Elsewhere-  
Blanca-

Blanca had rented a tiny, one-room apartment as a hide-out in a building that should have been condemned. He sat on the floor near an open window and watched the street with a handgun in one hand while he spoke with Yut-Lung on the phone. The entire rest of the building was empty, not a single other resident. There were electric cords hanging from the ceiling and an exposed gas line where there should have been a stove. The wallpaper was faded and peeling and the faint smell of mildew filled the air. When Blanca hung up the phone after speaking with Yut-Lung, he considered for a time. Someone who looked like him had been killed. It was probably a big coincidence. Probably. If there was someone trying to kill him, it would have been a surprise. He didn’t make a habit of leaving enemies alive, after all. He put his phone away and closed his eyes as he thought.

Hunting Gregory was turning out to be a bigger chore than Blanca had anticipated. Not that he was planning to give up - that just wouldn’t do - but he hadn’t expected Gregory to be such a challenge. It seemed there were distractions everywhere. Someone had shot at Ash, Yut-Lung was upset because Sing got drunk, and Sing was upset because it seemed the Banana Fish wasn’t quite as destroyed as they’d thought. Not to mention that Gregory was clearly smarter than Blanca had given him credit for, because he kept hiding in places where he was surrounded by people and if Blanca wanted to keep things quiet, he needed to keep the murder quiet. 

He would have to think of a new strategy.

It was pure coincidence that Blanca turned his head to look out the open window of his hide-out and he saw Clint Barton. Hawkeye, The Avenger. He had an excellent reputation and, after Blanca’s current job was complete, he wouldn’t mind a little friendly marksmanship competition with Mister Barton. His eyes drifted from Mister Barton to the young lady walking with him and he felt as if his breath had been stolen from him. 

Her. 

It was HER! 

His heart skipped a beat. Red. Her hair was red, not the blonde he remembered, but everything else was just as he remembered - her fair skin, her easy stride, the delicate lines of her face, and her eyes... oh, her eyes were the same as ever. She was alive. Alive and strong, as if the past many years hadn’t happened. She was so close. He could have called out to her. He kept watching until she and Mister Barton walked around a corner and were gone.

Natasha. His wife... his love. The one great love of his life. She was alive.

A strange numbness spread across Blanca’s body. He didn’t understand. She had been dead. He’d left sunflowers at her grave along with his heart. He stared down at her and all the pain - the crushing pain! - came flooding back as if it had never left him. He felt as hurt as he had the day he’d learned that she’d died, the pain was as raw as any open wound.

And then there was a gun barrel pressed against the side of his head. Blanca was more embarrassed than anything. To be caught distracted... how unprofessional. He looked up and didn’t recognize any of the men surrounding him. There were five of them. Four standing a distance away, and one holding the gun against his head. He noted that as he didn’t recognize them, they were either very new to the profession of assassination or they weren’t professionals at all. All the more embarrassing if he’d been caught by amateurs.

“Put it down.”

Blanca slowly lowered his handgun to the floor. 

“So, this is the legendary Blanca?” The man holding the gun to Blanca’s head laughed when he said it. “I was half-expecting some kind of monster, but here you are - just another paid killer. And, honestly, you weren’t all that hard to find. Isn’t an assassin supposed to be able to blend in? All we had to do was ask around for a good-looking man well over seven-feet-tall and built like a brick wall. You’d be surprised to know how many people remember seeing you walk down the street. Who are you looking for?”

“Can the talk!” One of the other gunmen said, sharply. “We don’t need to waste time. Has he got it?”

The man closest to Blanca tapped the side of Blanca’s head with the gun. “Don’t be stupid. Just sit there and be quiet.” He reached down the collar of Blanca’s shirt. 

Blanca wasn’t afraid of the men. It had been a very long time since he’d been afraid of other people pointing guns at him as that sort of unhelpful emotion had been largely trained out of him during his youth. He was cautious. He didn’t have time to die at the moment, so he would have to avoid getting shot. If the man’s intent was to molest Blanca... well, that would be unusual. It hadn’t happened in years, in fact, but he could deal with it as well as he always had.

But molestation wasn’t the plan.

The very moment his attacker put his fingers on the chain around Blanca’s neck, Blanca felt his whole body go stiff. “You can’t have that.”

“Shut up.” He pulled the chain up and the two rings on the chain - Blanca and his wife’s wedding rings - came into view. He said to his companions, “He’s got them. This is him.”

“Then shoot him, already. All we need is the rings.”

The anger that surged through Blanca was dark and cold. He stared at the rings dangling in front of his face and thought of her smile, her laugh, her eyes. He thought of Ash and how he needed to have a life of something other than pain and fear. He thought of Yut-Lung, so angry and lost. He thought of Sing, who wanted to be strong, but was so very young. “I will not die.”

“You don’t have a choice.” Again, the man mockingly tapped his gun against Blanca’s head. “Sorry, but that’s the mission.”

Blanca tore his eyes away from the rings and looked directly into the gunman’s eyes. He smiled. “I am ready and willing to die for my mission. Are you?”

“What?”

Blanca gave a hard, sharp jab to the man’s wrist, causing the man’s gun to fly out of his hand right across the room. Blanca rose up to one knee and struck a blow on the man’s chest. He wasn’t even remotely surprised when the man fell at once. He was dead. Blanca didn’t need to check. The shooting started, then. He took one bullet in the leg, but was fast enough to dodge the others as he got to his feet and snatched up his gun. He spun around but didn’t aim for any of the men, as he knew that even when he killed one the others would kill him before he could get to them. Instead, he threw himself out the open window and turned in midair just in time to shoot at and hit his target - the gas line- perfectly.

The explosion was magnificent.

To be continued...


	20. A Friend

Chapter 20: A Friend

The Avengers’ Tower-  
Tony-

Tony wasn’t a people person. He knew that very well and was quite happy about it. People were illogical and erratic. One could never tell what they would do at any given time. So having new people in his home was troubling, even though he knew it was necessary and he had been the one to open his home to them. He certainly wouldn’t kick out someone like Ash who was in a dire predicament. It seemed like every minute of the day some little fact of Ash’s life was brought up and gave Tony a whole new reason to pity Ash, though he was fairly certain Ash wouldn’t appreciate pity. He knew he wouldn’t if he were in Ash’s shoes. 

The fact that just the idea of watching the movie ‘Annie’ had made Ash look like he wanted to run out of the room was just a whole new bucket full of ‘sad’ and made Tony want to hit someone. He’d never thought of himself as a violent man, but there were times when humans made him want to hurt people. Abusing little kids, killing them, drugging them... Tony’s mind slipped over to a memory of watching Natasha try to understand ‘The Three Stooges’ while Clint howled with laughter next to her. The confused look on her face at the mock violence and her whispered, “Clint... I don’t understand. Is this funny?” Made her own horrible childhood too clear. He thought about Bruce hesitating to go into public because he was so afraid that he might be captured and forever imprisoned or killed or used as a weapon. He thought of Steve who tried to be perfect for his team but had been caught more than once flinching at loud noises and Tony had overheard him confess to Phil, “Sometimes, it’s like I can still hear the gunfire. I hate fireworks.” Clint, the best sniper around, who hated killing people but, “I’m not good for anything else. I never went to school and I don’t have any other skills. So if bad people need to be killed, I should do what has to be done. I want to be useful.” And Tony was fairly sure Clint feared that if he wasn’t ‘useful’ he wouldn’t be allowed to stay with the team. Tony knew Phil had been talking with Clint about that. And then there was the absent member of their team, Thor, who had so many issues Tony didn’t even know where to start. And that thought led him straight back to another person with too many issues - Ash. 

Tony sighed as he walked through the tower’s halls. His thoughts kept running this way and that, all time filled with too many emotions and those thoughts kept running in circles around Ash, his team, and all the pain that Tony didn’t have any way to fix. He didn’t like that. He found great satisfaction in fixing problems, but when it came to emotions, he had no idea where to even start. It was terribly frustrating and because he was frustrated, he paced the tower halls at a brisk clip. He did that when his thoughts got too big for his brain and it seemed that walking helped to spread the thoughts out and let him study them, better. The whole situation dragged up all sorts of thoughts - troubling and interesting and frightening and sad - and he was having a bit of trouble dealing with them. Thoughts he could deal with very well, but emotions were difficult. Thoughts and emotions mixed together were just a mess. So he paced the halls, walked up and down the stairs of the tower and roamed through several rooms. At one point he turned a corner just in time to see Jessica and Michael walking down the hall away from Tony. Tony stopped and listened to what they were saying.

Michael skipped next to his mother. “Mommy, you n’ daddy have to adopt Ash. He said it’s okay and his Jennifer won’t be mad so you gotta adopt him, now.”

Jessica’s step faltered for just an instant. “You really like Ash that much, huh? You know, adopting someone into the family would mean big changes. It’s something everyone would have to be very sure of.”

“I love Ash lots! I had bad dreams and he was so, so nice and he helped when I had an accident.” Michael paused then smiled at his mom. “Sorry.”

Jessica smiled, fondly. “That’s alright, dear. You can wake me or daddy up next time.”

“But Ash helped. He’s really good at helping. And we talked for a long time and I told him about my school and about recess and did you know Ash never went on monkey bars?! He didn’t know what they were so I had to tell him.”

“That was nice of you, honey. Sometimes, Ash doesn’t know all the things you know because he was raised by some mean people when he was growing up, so it’s good that you help him.”

“So... when are you gonna adopt him? He said he’d do it ‘cause we’re awesome.”

“Michael. It’s not something to do quickly.”

“But... but... but... if you adopt him he’ll really be my brother and then even when he goes away to Japan, he’ll still be my brother and he’ll remember me even when he’s far away.”

“Silly! Ash will remember you no matter what. Come on, honey. Time for your nap.”

Tony felt his eyes start to burn with tears as Jessica and Michael turned a corner. He blinked and shook his head. “All these emotions...it’s hard. So hard.” Tony put a hand to his chest where his heart used to be. It occurred to him, not for the first time, that if he had no heart, surely all these emotions wouldn’t hurt so much. “Too much.” He headed down to his lab and wasn’t at all surprised to find Bruce there, reading. Bruce looked up the minute Tony walked in, but said nothing before he started reading, again. Tony didn’t say anything to Bruce, either. Bruce was one of the few people Tony could handle being around for long periods of time. Even though Bruce was filled to the brim with emotions, he was also logical and usually quiet. And he did turn into a huge green wrecking ball which was always fun.

As Tony worked, and he normally let himself get completely lost in his work, he couldn’t quite keep his mind off his guests. The Tower felt fuller than it ever had and Tony partly felt like he was walking on eggshells to keep everyone happy, but, he had to admit, things were going better than he’d expected. Of course, he still had the problem of his department store that wasn’t a department store to deal with.

Tony set down his tools and frowned. What was he supposed to do with that place, now? It wasn’t set up to be the department store Tony had been anticipating and, yet, it was nearly finished. He was of a mind to rip the whole thing down simply because of it’s association with Golzine and, remembering the few times he’d encountered that man during unavoidable social occasions, just thinking about Golzine made Tony want to break things. He hadn’t mentioned it to anyone and doubted he would because there was nothing to be done about it, but he felt dirty, like there was film of scum on his skin, when he thought about that awful party where Golzine had basically thrown Ash at him to attempt to seduce him. God, but he felt guilty about that. It was another ugly emotion Tony didn’t want to deal with, but seemed to be unable to escape every time he looked at Ash. If hadn’t gotten drunk that night, or if he’d drunk less, maybe he would have been able to help. Maybe not, but there was always a chance and it wasn’t as if Tony would have been afraid to face Golzine. 

“Ya know,” Tony said aloud to anyone who might be listening whether was J.A.R.V.I.S., Bruce, or any of the robots. “I ought to give Ash something to do. He’s bright enough that I think him getting bored might be a problem. What can I have him do? Let’s think. Games? Everyone likes games. Video games? What do I have he might like? He likes guns.”

“No shooting games.”

Tony whipped around at the sound of Bruce’s voice and saw Bruce looking at him over the top of his book. “Why not?”

There was no answer straight away. Bruce hid behind his book. “Just a feeling. Maybe one of those games where he can build something. A farm or an amusement park. “

“Great idea. Should keep him from getting bored for a little while. It would be safer if he’d stay in the tower until his court date, but doesn’t seem like he has any intention of making our jobs easy.”

Still, Bruce didn’t look up, but when he spoke his voice was soft and thoughtful. “It’s not good to keep people locked up. Tony, you... ah... you should talk to him.”

And there was the problem, in Tony’s mind. He could see no earthly reason why Ash would ever want to be in the same room with him, let alone have a civil conversation. And, yet, there Ash was, living under Tony’s roof and being generally good-natured and polite. He was certainly a lot better mannered than many people Tony had done business with, people who hadn’t had such a hand dealt to them as Ash had, people who should have been better than they were. And there was Ash, who had virtually nothing, grew up poor and abused far worse than most people could imagine, and he showed a kinder nature than people born with every luxury.

He had heard about Ash helping Michael - J.A.R.V.I.S. told him everything - and he had heard about how badly Ash had reacted when he’d thought Phil was a pervert trying to get into Jessica and Michael’s apartment, and how he’d gone to see his dead friend’s sister to apologize because he felt guilty about his death. Ash was good, Tony knew, though he had every reason to be angry and hateful, he didn’t seem to be. 

“I don’t think he’ll want to see me any more than he has to,” Tony turned back to his work and started working out an equation to help his newest invention balance just a little better. “I probably remind him of the Hell he went though. I still can’t believe I was right there and didn’t do a damned thing to help him.” Phil had tried to explain to Tony that nothing that had happened to Ash had been Tony’s fault and, logically, he understood that. Logic didn’t make his guilt go away, though.

“Maybe. But, we both know he’s smart. Really smart. Don’t we? I think he probably understands why you didn’t help and he doesn’t seem to hold a grudge.” Bruce peeked over the top of his book. “Maybe he’d like to talk to another genius?”

It gave Tony pause. “You think he’s THAT smart?”

“Well... you could talk to him and find out.”

It was food for thought. “And onto another train of thought - who the heck killed those two shooters in Chinatown?”

“What?”

“Those guys who shot at Ash? Clint said they were dead, both of them shot, before he got to them and he said it wasn’t even five minutes before he found them. So, who shot them? Phil checked around with the other groups - the X-men, the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange - but no one’s claiming it. None of them really use guns, anyway. It seems to me that someone wants Ash alive, but doesn’t want us to know who they are. I know why so many people want him dead, but why does this one person want to keep him alive? They’re willing to kill to keep him alive, but they don’t make themselves known? I don’t like that.”

It was then that J.A.R.V.I.S. announced that there had been an explosion and Clint and Natasha were at the scene.

Tony’s pencil froze just above the notebook of calculations he had been working on.

Explosion. Clint. Natasha. Explosions. He needed to be there. “J.A.R.V.I.S., who’s on ‘Ash duty’ today?”

“Steve. He, Ash, and Eiji have left the tower in the company of a person identified as Lee Yut-Lung. He was hard to investigate; the only record I have of him is a brief news clip about the unexpected deaths of the vast majority of the Lee family, a powerful business family who own the Hua Yan Bank. The only survivors were Lee Hua-Lung, who was named as the president of the Hua Yan Bank after the death of the eldest brother, Lee Wang-Lung. Lee Yut-Lung was named as his brother’s counselor, though I find it difficult to find more information about him. I can tell you that neither he nor Ash seemed fond of one another from what I observed.”

Tony blinked and slowly set down his pencil. “So... Steve’s with Ash?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. That’s good.” Because Steve was reliable.

They hadn’t gotten off on a good foot when they’d first met, but Tony had issues and Steve had been in a mood after waking up, so Tony figured it was all understandable. Time had passed and Tony had grown to like Steve. He was a little straight-laced, but he was good and Tony knew precious few people that he could honestly call ‘good’. He was also honest and brave and honorable. How could one not like Steve? More than that, Tony had learned to trust Steve, so he knew their little house guest would be safe with him.

“Are you going?” Bruce asked as he got gracefully to his feet.

“Yes.” Because... explosions and Clint and Natasha and, yeah, Clint knew how to look after himself, but Natasha had all the self-preservation instinct of a door-knob and if she ran into danger, then Clint was sure to go after her and what did either of them think they could do about a building exploding? It was probably on fire and there might be more explosions - Tony had a vast experience with explosions - and buildings usually collapsed after exploding, didn’t they?

“Tony?” Bruce was at the door and looked over his shoulder at Tony. “Are you coming?”

“Right. Yes.” Tony sprang to his feet and hurried after Bruce.

They met Phil in the garage and asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to look after Max and his family before they headed off.

***

The fire department and the police had already arrived. The building that had exploded had caught fire and a dozen firefighters were calmly in control. There were a great many people on the sidewalks, watching the action as they were kept at a safe distance by the police.

‘Should have brought the suit. What good am I without the suit? Nothing. That’s what, I’m nothing without... no! Don’t think like that.’ It was a dangerous line of thought and one that Tony struggled with on occasion. Of course, he was plenty useful without the suit. He had created so many things to better the world that he couldn’t deny he was very useful, but situations like this, where his team mates were in serious danger made him very aware of how very weak he was without the suit compared to his team mates.

Tony stared at the fire, both horrified by the destruction of the fire and so thankful that the firefighters were able to control it so quickly. He looked around. Bruce stayed close, but stared at the fire, his hands deep in his pockets. Phil was talking with the fire chief and came back to tell them, “No one’s seen anyone fitting Clint or Natasha’s description, but they haven’t gone all the way through the building, yet. Maybe they already left.”

Tony didn’t like ‘maybe’. He’d never liked that word. What a terrible, uncertain word. He certainly wasn’t going to risk Clint and Natasha’s lives on a ‘maybe’. He opened his mouth to tell J.A.R.V.I.S. to send the suit to him, but before he could even make a sound, Steve was with them and glared at the fire as if it was a personal offense. Ash and Eiji stood behind him.

“I spoke to J.A.R.V.I.S. about the explosion. What do we know?”

“Not much.”

Steve said, “Tony, take custody of Ash, please. I’ll be right back.” And without hesitation, Steve ran into the fire.

Tony’s eye twitched. ‘Fine. Great. That’s just great! Clint can’t do a thing with arrows in there and Nat can’t a kill a fire, and Steve’s... damn it! If they don’t die in there, I’ll kill ‘em myself!’

But he’d barely even thought the words before his team mates rushed out. Clint carried a man over each shoulder while Steve also had two, one man under each arm. Natasha dragged a fourth man, coming more slowly behind until Tony ran to her and helped to get her out of danger. Five men. They were all laid out neatly on the sidewalk across the street from the burning building and after the fire chief yelled at everyone in general for going into fires when the firefighters were trying to save lives, The whole Avenger’s team sat down to the rest. Bruce stayed on his feet and shifted from side-to-side as the paramedics worked on the unconscious men. They offered oxygen to everyone who’d gone into the fire, but the priority was the unconscious men.

“HYDRA,” Natasha said. She looked up at Phil with those huge, innocent eyes that had lured so many people to their deaths. “I recognize that one,” she pointed to one of the unconscious men. “He was in that warehouse... just outside Barcelona? He was there, fighting for HYDRA. He must have slipped away when it became obvious they would lose.”

Tony didn’t question Natasha, she didn’t make mistakes about such facts. HYDRA agents so close to home was bad. Then Tony looked at Phil and caught the fleeting moment when Phil cast a look over at Ash. Ash and Eiji were standing together and while Eiji watched the fire with natural horror, Ash looked at the fire and then over at the five rescued men still being tended by the paramedics. He looked back and forth a few times, but said said nothing and settled for standing quietly with Eiji.

“And you two thought it would be a good idea to run into a building that just blew up?” Tony asked, looking at Clint and Natasha. “Really?”

Clint coughed. “Well, we couldn’t just stand around and do nothing. People could have gotten hurt.”

And, yes, Tony could understand the impulse, but the part of him that urged him to look after his younger team mates wanted to shout at them. If there had been a second explosion when they’d been inside... his brand new family...

The paramedics worked furiously, shouting to each other as they struggled to work on all five men. Bruce lent a hand, but there was nothing Tony could do. Eventually, the wounded men were all loaded into ambulances and rushed to the nearest hospital for treatment. Tony knew Phil would arrange for them to be questioned, at the very least, as soon as they woke up. Fury was not going to be happy about having HYRDA in the city, especially since they were only caught by pure chance. If the building hadn’t exploded, it was probable that they would have gone undetected.

Just as the last of the ambulances started for the hospital, Tony turned in time to see Ash offering a bottle of water to an exhausted looking firefighter taking a break near the back of a fire truck.

“That’s alright, kid. I’m fine, but thanks.” The firefighter tried to wave off the kindness, but she looked ready to drop. She was slumped over and sweat covered her face.

“Just take it,” Ash said, pushing the water bottle at her. “It hasn’t been opened, I didn’t do anything to it. This is my neighborhood and the fire could have spread real fast. So... thanks.”

She looked touched and took the bottle of water. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

It was a simple act of kindness, just a bottle of water, but considering what Tony knew about Ash’s life, he was impressed by that simple act of kindness.

Phil confirmed with the fire chief that there was no one else in the building, though there had been one man renting an apartment, according to the landlord, but he hadn’t been found in the apartment and every room had been searched. They all waited until the fire had been put out before they went home.

The Next Day-

The next day would be a quiet one as Phil, Natasha, and Steve went to talk to Fury about the HYDRA agents while Clint recuperate from smoke inhalation. It was Tony’s day to look after Ash and so it was that Tony sat in his own kitchen at the table with everyone else and had no idea what to say to Ash.

Jessica put a piece of buttered toast in front of Ash along with a glass of water and said, “Have you thought about what you’re going to do when all of this is over?”

Ash turned a page in the newspaper. “What do you mean?”

“Well, the court case won’t last forever. It might feel like it, but it won’t. Someday, this will be over. What do you want to do?”

Tony nodded his head. “That’s a great question. You’re bright. Have you thought about going to school?”

Ash just stared. He looked around the table at everyone watching him, then put the newspaper back up in front of his face. “School? Give me a break. I never made it passed first grade; I wouldn’t know what to do in a school. Is it important?”

“Be serious.” Eiji poked Ash on the arm. “You must want to do something. You can do anything.” It was said so earnestly, without any pretense.

“Are you kidding? I never thought I’d live passed sixteen. I was sure Dino would get sick of me by then, that I’d be too old for him. It wouldn’t have been hard, he could have just strangled me in my sleep. He was strong enough to do...”

Bruce cleared his throat, loudly, and nodded at Michael, who’s eyes had gotten distressingly wide.

Ash took the hint and said, “So.... yeah. Never mind all that. I never gave much thought to ‘what comes next’, but I guess I should think about it, now.”

“Well,” Bruce said. “Think carefully. Think about what you enjoy doing and let that start you out. Take it from a person who can’t have his dreams, if you can do it, go for it. By the time this trial ends, you’ll have nothing to hold you back.”

Ash’s phone rang. He looked at the screen then answered with a lazy sounding, “Hey, Alex. What’s up?” Whatever Alex said to Ash must have been bad news because the longer Ash listened, the deeper his frown got. “Damn it. Did he give you a reason?” Ash paused to listen. “Right. Where is he? Are you with him?’ Again, another pause. “Well, stay there. I’ll be there in a little while. Don’t let him leave. Sit on him if you have to.” Ash hung up his phone and stood up. He jammed his phone back in his pocket and pulled his gun out from the waistband of his jeans and checked to make sure it was loaded.

“What’s wrong?” Max asked, his face grim. “Trouble?”

“Nothing for you to worry about. I can deal with it.” At Max and Jessica’s clear concern, Ash rolled his eyes as he put his gun back in the waistband of his jeans. “One of my guys is having a little trouble. It’s nothing for you to worry about. I’ve taken care of it before and I can do it, now.”

Eiji sat up a little straighter. “The guys? Who’s hurt? I’m coming, too.”

“No, you’re not.” Ash wasn’t asking or requesting, he was giving an order, a gentle one, but an order all the same. When Eiji’s eyes narrowed and he looked very much as if he would argue, Ash said, “It’s Bones. You like Bones, right? Well, he’s having a rough day and the last thing he’ll want is a whole mess of people gawking at him and making a big scene. It would embarrass him.”

Eiji reluctantly backed down.

Ash stood up and left the table. “Doctor Banner, come with me.” And he headed to the door without checking to see if Bruce was going with him or not.

Bruce looked up, surprised. He looked at Tony, then at the door Ash had gone through. Together, Tony and Bruce hurried after Ash.

“I didn’t invite you,” Ash said without turning around when they caught up with him in the hall. “I invited Doctor Banner.”

“And it’s not his day to take care of you - it’s mine. We have this all worked out.”

“You might have it worked out, but I need Doctor Banner. Today,” Ash abruptly stopped and spun around to face Tony. “You’re no use to me.”

Tony had never been one to back down from a confrontation. “Well, that’s hard luck. Bruce doesn’t like leaving the Tower alone, so I’ll go along for his peace of mind if nothing else.”

Ash looked at Bruce, as if to ask if Tony was telling the truth. Bruce shrugged. Ash sighed. “Fine. But go put on something casual.” He looked down at Tony’s slacks and polished shoes. “Honestly, you’re gonna get mugged going out like that. And you,” he turned to Bruce. Bruce, in his sweat pants and comfy, stretched out sweater. “You’re fine. You look completely harmless.”

“I’m really not, you know.”

“Neither am I, but my guy probably won’t bolt if you go in looking like a teddy bear.” He waved a hand at Tony. “You’ve got ten minutes to change and be in the lobby. After that, I’m leaving without you.”

Tony wasn’t entirely sure why he ran to obey the eighteen-year-old kid, but he did. He was in the lobby wearing jeans and sneakers in eight minutes. Ash had timed him. He looked Tony up and down before giving the judgment. “You’ll do. Let’s go.”

He led the way and Tony didn’t miss how Bruce tensed the minute they walked out onto the street. He didn’t, however, seem on the verge of panicking, so Tony guessed that was a good sign. “Where are we going?”

“To see a guy. Keep up.”

Ash led them all through the city, right out of the ‘nice’ part of town and to a neighborhood that was filled with graffiti on walls, trash in the gutters, broken windows in business, and the hard, suspicious eyes of passers-by. Tony had never been in that part of town, but, strangely enough, Bruce began to look more relaxed. Bruce had, on occasion, spoken of some of the places he’d visited in his travels as he’d run from the military and none of the places he’d spoken fondly of had been bright, shining cities.

“Sir?” J.A.R.V.I.S.’ voice was soft in Tony’s ear. The little communicators he’d made so the team could communicate more efficiently had really turned out to be very useful. “Is there anything you’d like me to do?”

“No. We’re good. I’ll let you know if I need the suit, but everything seems quiet.” Tony grimaced when he had to step around a brown pile of something suspicious on the sidewalk. Neither Bruce nor Ash paid it any attention at all.

They went to a bar. It was in the basement of a large building and they had to go down a flight of stairs from the sidewalk just to get to the front door. Inside, the whole room was thumping with too loud music, so loud that Bruce flinched and put his hands over his ears.

“Turn that down!” Ash thundered.

Instantly, the music was off and every eye in the place was on Ash. They were all teenagers - dangerous looking teenagers, but teenagers all the same. There were a few there who didn’t look old enough to shave. They watched Bruce and Tony with cold eyes, but Ash told his friends, “Relax. I brought them here. Everyone out!” Ash didn’t have to ask twice. Everyone put down their drinks and left without a word of complaint until there was only one person left and it was to that boy that Ash asked, “What happened and where is he?”

“He’s in the back. Kong’s sitting on him.” The boy who spoke looked no older than Ash, though he was a bit bigger - a little taller, a little more solid looking. That size advantage didn’t make any difference because Ash was the leader. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. He’d had no hesitation when he’d walked into this... bar? Club? Whatever it was, Ash was in control and everyone there had known he was in charge. This boy, who looked bigger and stronger than Ash, apparently accepted Ash’s leadership as a matter of course. 

Tony made a mental note of that. Natural leadership. A fine quality.

Ash ran a hand over the top of his head and momentarily looked surprised, as if he’d expected his hair to still be long and shaggy. Ash gestured loosely to Tony and Bruce. “These are part of The Avengers,” when the other boy’s eyes lit up, Ash snapped, “You start gushing and I’ll deck you! You two, this is Alex. He’s my right-hand man.” ‘Man’ seemed a bit generous as Alex didn’t look like he could have been much passed nineteen, if he was even that old. Still, Tony didn’t dispute it. Ash asked Alex, “Right. How did it happen?”

“I think it was right when we all got out of that hospital place that wasn’t a hospital.” He shot a wary look at Tony and Bruce before looking back at Ash. “We got everyone out that we could, everyone who was still alive, and Bones was so happy that he threw himself at me and knocked me down. We both fell. Sorry I didn’t catch him, I’ll do better.”

“You did fine. That twit knows he’s not supposed to do stuff like that. You didn’t notice anything earlier?”

“You know he hides it. And,” Alex looked a bit embarrassed. “I wanted everyone out of there. Fast. Sorry, but look... that place... it was wrong. I know you’re gonna say it’s just a building and of course it was bad with all the shooting ‘n stuff, but there was something just bad about it. Evil.” He moved to stand near Ash, but didn’t touch him and, to Tony, it looked as if Alex had deliberately, thoughtfully, not touched Ash. It was possible, even likely, that a few of Ash’s gang might know what he’d gone through and, who better to know that than Ash’s second-in-command? Alex turned his back on Tony and Bruce and lowered his voice, though not quite enough to prevent Tony from hearing, “I saw Matt. Kong told me that when they were all locked up in the cells a couple of men came and took Matt away from the others, dragged him away screaming. When we were leaving... I saw him. What they did to him... Boss, it was bad. They cut him up and... God. It was real bad. I still gotta tell his granma what happened. She doesn’t know where he is. She depended on what he brought home to pay the bills. I dunno what she’s gonna do without him. She’s got a bad heart and can’t work; I think she might lose her apartment.”

Ash’s expression didn’t change as Alex was talking. “She won’t lose her apartment. I’ll take care of it. Doctor Banner, you have a patient. One of my guys got hurt, but he won’t go to the hospital to get it taken care of. Your job is to convince him to go. So, you go in and look fluffy and harmless and maybe he’ll let you look at him and maybe you can tell him all the reasons why he needs to go to a hospital.”

“Why won’t he go?” Bruce asked. “If it’s money, there’s a very good free clinic a few streets from here. I went there once and the doctors are excellent.”

“It’s not money. Let’s go.” He slipped by Alex and went into a back room where they found a boy with strawberry blonde hair and a very large boy sitting next to him on a shabby couch that was so rundown and filthy with stains that Tony wouldn’t have donated it to charity. The large boy had a hand on his friend’s shoulder and refused to let him budge even when the smaller boy squirmed to escape.

Ash snapped, “Knock it off, Bones!”

Both boys went silent and looked at Ash, as obedient as dogs looking at their master. It was almost eerie. Ash stood in front of the boys and held out a hand. “Let me see it and don’t screw around.”

It was the smaller boy who whined and held out his arm to Ash. Ash looked at the arm and, despite his harsh words, handled the arm gently. “You know you have to go to the hospital if this happens. You want it to heal crooked or something? Here,” he gestured to Bruce. “This is Bones. Come and look at his arm. Stop moving, you goober.” Ash aimed the last at Bones, who got a wild look in his eyes when he saw Bruce. That wasn’t an unusual reaction to someone seeing Hulk, but Bruce - still in his sweat pants and his over-sized, comfy sweater - looked like everyone’s favorite kindergarten teacher. 

Bones shook his head wildly. “I don’t want no doctors! I ain’t goin’ ta no hospital! Not again!” His speech was a little off, Tony noted. He had several front teeth missing. Despite how Bones clearly wanted to run away, he didn’t make any effort to pull his arm away from Ash, not even when Ash reprimand him,

“You keep still. You don’t take care of yourself. Jeezum Cripes, you know you break bones like you’re made out of eggshells, so you’ve got to be careful. Now, he’s a doctor and he’s good. He’s taking care of my knife wounds so I know he’s harmless.”

Bones turned his frustration on his other friend, still holding his shoulder. “This is your fault. You told Alex!”

Ash growled. “You keep that up and I’ll knock you right to the ground! Kong did the right thing.”

“You know,” Tony spoke up. “Bruce really is a nice guy. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Alex frowned. “Who’re you?”

Tony froze. It wasn’t often he met someone who didn’t know who he was. Such an unexpectedly exhilarating feeling. “No one,” Tony answered. “No one at all. You just ignore me.” He wandered away from the little group to an old arcade game that sat in the corner. It was one of those huge box-things with art of the game decorating all sides of it. He smiled. “Q*bert... nice.”

“Leave it alone; it’s not fixed, yet.” Ash sauntered over, though he kept his eyes on Bruce and Bones.

“You’re fixing it?”

Ash nodded, absently.

Tony ran a hand over his hair. “What still needs to be done?”

“The sound doesn’t work. I need some more stuff to fix it right, but it’ll wait till after my court date. The guys can be patient or fix it themselves.”

“You’re repairing an almost forty-year-old game so your gang can play?”

“Well, I’m not fixing it for me. Video games are stupid. Waste of time.” For the first time, Ash turned to look at the game. He put a hand on the joy stick. “Used to be this kid hung around here. Skipper. He was a good kid. He wanted to be part of a gang, so I let him hang here. Better than a little kid running the streets, ya know? I was gonna get it fixed up for him, so he’d have something to do around here and keep himself out of trouble.” Ash took his hand away from the game. “He’s dead, now. Ten-years-old and he’s dead. Got shot right in front of me.” He lazily kicked the side of the arcade machine.

Bruce examined the arm in question and easily passed judgment. “It’s broken.” And then Bruce set in on one of his strangely gentle lectures where he managed to persuade Bones to agree to go to a hospital, but Bones wasn’t happy about it. He ended up practically in tears and muttered about evil doctors and hospitals with locked doors. He would only be calmed when Kong said,

“Don’t worry. I’ll go with you. Stay with you the whole time, n’ everythin’.”

Bones was escorted to the hospital. Ash walked behind the group to make sure Bones didn’t make a run for it and didn’t leave until Bones had been examined and treated. Then he promised the doctor that he would make sure Bones returned for a follow-up visit. Before they parted ways from Alex, Bones, and Kong, Ash gave an envelope to Alex and a few whispered instructions and told him to call if there were any other problems.

Later-  
Phil-

After returning to the Tower from their meeting with Fury, Phil sent Natasha and Steve up to their home while he made a quick stop at the receptionist’s desk to pick up his newspaper. As he stood there, he noticed Ash in the lobby and found it curious that he was talking with Sitwell.

“J.A.R.V.I.S., can you amplify what Ash and Sitwell are saying so I can hear it in here?” Phil asked, tapping the communication device Tony had given all of them in his ear. He had worn it that day in case any information Fury had given them needed to be relayed at once as J.A.R.V.I.S. was the surest way to quickly get information to the team.

“Yes, Phil.”

And just like that, because they were in the Tower and J.A.R.V.I.S. was nearly all-powerful in the Tower, Phil could hear every word Ash and Sitwell said with his communication device.

“It’s good to meet you. I’m sorry it couldn’t be under better circumstances.” Sitwell held out a hand. “I’m Jasper Sitwell.”

Ash eyed the hand, then looked at Sitwell. He took the hand and shook it, but released it very quickly and put his hands back in his pockets. “Ash.”

“Well, I’m glad I caught you, though I thought Phil would have you tucked away upstairs where it’s safest. Stark is well-known for having excellent security and that security only improves the higher one gets in this tower. Phil is a good friend, we’ve worked together for a few years.”

Phil couldn’t argue with that. In all of S.H.I.E.L.D., Jasper Sitwell was one of the people he trusted most. And that was why his own reaction puzzled him. Hiding. Eavesdropping. That wasn’t the way one treated a friend, but he had the very strong feeling that he didn’t want Sitwell to know he was there, not just yet. It made no sense, but that didn’t stop Phil. 

“There seems to be a little difficulty with your case. I heard about it in a roundabout way, so it’s possible that it’s only rumor and one really must take that sort of thing with a grain of salt. Have the police been by to speak with you, today, by chance?” When Ash shook his head, Sitwell went on, “Well, I’m sure they’ll contact you, soon. It does seem to be a rather big deal, so it’s important that you know.”

Ash took a step away from Sitwell. It was casual and most people might not have even noticed it, but Phil did. Ash’s expression didn’t change - cool and disinterested - but it seemed to Phil that the step Ash took was a deliberate attempt to put space between himself and Sitwell. It was frustrating that he didn’t know Ash as well as he knew his team. With his team he would have known for certain. He knew Tony started rambling when he was upset, that Bruce would laugh to cover up nerves. He knew Natasha lean towards a person if she trusted them and that Clint clenched his left fist when he was angry. He knew Steve tended to hide in his rooms when he was feeling lonely and out-of-place in the world. He even knew that Thor, who spend the least amount of time with the team but firmly counted himself as an Avenger, swung his arms and paced when he was agitated, but also did the same when he was excited. He knew his team and if one of them had taken a step away from a person, he would have known what it meant. He just didn’t know what it meant with Ash. Did he distrust Sitwell? Was he afraid? Was he just bored and wanted to get away?

“What are you talking about?” Ash asked.

“I’m sure it’s nothing. You know, there are a lot of people around who are trying to help you out. I’m not really on your case, but I have heard things. Unfortunately, there are a lot of rumors that run around an organization like S.H.I.E.L.D. and the whole business with Club Cod was very big news. It still is.” His face fell with sadness. “It’s so hard to believe there are such people out there in the world. I wish you all the luck and I hope you’ll count me as one of your supporters. I’ll be right there in the courtroom for you.”

Ash looked away, as if the receptionist at his desk was suddenly very interesting. “Thanks.”

Sitwell laughed. “I’m sorry. I’m told I can come off a little strong. I just want to reinforce what I’m sure everyone’s been telling you - you’re not alone. I’m on your side.”

“What did you hear about me?” Ash was not one to be deterred.

Sitwell sighed. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. I don’t want to worry you. Still, it’s your right to know, you’re the one most affected by it, after all. The thing is, apparently, those officers who are handling the Club Cod case tried to look for evidence at Dino Golzine’s mansion but they can’t get in.”

“What?”

“They can’t get in. What I heard is that they can’t get a search warrant. I expect it’s only some kind of paperwork error, but you would think if they were trying - really trying - then it wouldn’t be very difficult. After all, it’s not as if there would be anyone on the force who would work against you. None of the police can be involved with Golzine, right? And I’m sure those officers didn’t mean to keep such important information away from you. I’m sure they would have told you about it... sooner or later. It’s not like they’d deliberately keep secrets from you when you’re so much at risk.”

Ash’s face was as still as it had been the moment Sitwell had introduced himself. “Thanks for telling me.”

“You’re very welcome. I hope we can be friends, Mister Lynx.”

To be continued...


	21. A Crushed Heart

Chapter 21: A Crushed Heart

The Avengers’ Tower-  
Ash-

Ash watched as the man, Sitwell, walked away and left the building. He wasn’t sure what Sitwell was after, but he didn’t trust him. Ash had lived most of his life by trusting his instincts so when his instinct told him that Sitwell was no good, he trusted it. Sitwell was competent, he didn’t give off any real indications that he was lying and if Ash’s instincts hadn’t warned him, he might not have guessed. Of course, his instincts had failed him before - Foxx sprang to mind. When Foxx had confronted him in Frog’s bar, Ash hadn’t given him a second thought other than he was just another old man looking for a good time. So it was entirely possible that he was wrong about Sitwell, too.

Phil was watching.

Ash made an effort not to look over to where Phil stood behind him in the lobby, but he knew the man was there. He glanced again at the front doors of The Avengers’ Tower and, in the glass of those doors, he saw Phil standing near the receptionist’s desk. He looked troubled and, rather than watching Ash, he stared after where Sitwell had gone. Maybe they weren’t such good friends as Sitwell had told Ash.

“Ash!”

Ash turned a little at the sound of Max’s voice. Max had just stepped out of the elevator and was headed towards Ash.

“What are you doing down here?”

“Not much. You?”

“Me?” Max’s eyebrows rose. “What am I doing down here? When a building just exploded and you and Eiji were there watching it burn and I didn’t know if either of you were hurt? Gee. I wonder why I might want to know where you are. You’re gonna give me an ulcer, kid.” He looked Ash up and down and walked around him. “Are you hurt? You just can’t keep out of mischief, can you?”

Ash still wasn’t used to Max saying that sort of stuff. It made him a bit uncomfortable but a part of him liked the idea of being worried about. He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned his face away from Max. “Don’t go getting all sentimental.” But Max had been worried about Ash and it gave Ash a little warm glow in his chest that he wasn’t sure what to do with and it scared him a little. Was he supposed to say something nice back to Max? That warm feeling was becoming more common, though. There were other people who could inspire it - Jessica and Michael and Blanca and Nadia and Eiji... Eiji could inspire a damned bonfire.

Ash considered the situation for a moment. There was so much to worry about. He couldn’t believe that Bones had gone and let himself be in pain for days without saying anything to anyone. He was supposed to be the smart dog of Ash’s pack. But, they’d seen some pretty bad stuff when they’d been taken prisoner so Ash couldn’t really blame Bones for not wanting to go back to any kind of hospital or to trust people wearing white lab coats. Heck, they were all pretty lucky that Kong hadn’t gotten a concussion when Foxx’s men had pistol-whipped him right to the ground. It must have been an awful hit because Kong wasn’t an easy person to knock down. And he still had to find Gregory. Gregory was the priority because he had the Banana Fish. Ash really needed to get out from under the watchful eyes of his babysitters and get back to the streets because no matter how advanced and efficient, the drone Stark had provided just wasn’t doing the job. Ash needed to talk to people and see things with his own eyes and... maybe set a trap? That was an idea worth contemplating. And he also had to think of Sing. Hopefully, Yut-Lung had the sense to tell Sing’s guys what had happened and they could be out scouring the streets to find whoever had done the deed. It brought up the added worry about who was in charge of Sing’s guys. Ash didn’t know. He wasn’t as close to the Chinatown gang as he had been when Shorter had been alive and welcomed Ash into his territory with open arms and a smile. Had Sing been targeted deliberately or had it been a crime of opportunity? Yut-Lung had been right about the fact that Sing had very few enemies - he was nearly as well liked and respected as Shorter had been. He didn’t have his guys out making trouble and stealing blindly like some some idiot Bosses, he kept control. Even Yut-Lung respected Sing. He wouldn’t admit it, but Ash could tell. There was the matter of Griffin to consider, too, because Ash knew he should tell his father, but... it was complicated.

Max put a hand on Ash’s shoulder and gave him a little shake. “You look like you got the weight of the world on your shoulders. What’s going on?”

Banana Fish. Sing. Gregory. Griffin. Ash glanced again the lobby’s glass doors and saw Phil still standing by the receptionist’s desk and he looked as if he were deep in thought. “You know some guy called Sitwell? He said he’s a friend of Phil.”

“The name doesn’t ring a bell. What’s wrong with him?” Because, of course, Max knew there was a problem. He’d caught something in Ash’s voice or face. If there was one thing that Ash admired, it was how Max was so much smarter than he let everyone think. People looked at him and saw a big guy with a wide, dull face and they usually just wrote him off as strong, but dumb. But Ash had read Max’s writing and that had told him clearly enough that Max was far from stupid. He could almost call himself a fan. Long before he’d met Max in prison, he’d take the time to hunt out the Greenwich Tribune newspaper at the library just so he could read the column Max wrote. 

“Maybe nothing. Not sure.” Ash turned his back to Max and walked right over to Phil, who looked surprised to see him. “So, that guy really a friend of yours?”

Phil quickly schooled his expression and gave Ash a contrite smile. “Sorry for listening in. I was just surprised to see him here. I know Sitwell; he works for S.H.I.E.L.D. but I’m not sure why he came here. If he had any useful information, he really should have brought it to my attention because, as far as S.H.I.E.L.D. is concerned, I’m responsible for you.” Phil’s eyes sharpened a little. “How did you know I was watching? Your back as to me the whole time and...” he looked over Ash's shoulder. "Ah! You saw my reflection in the glass of the doors. Very good."

“Yeah, and I also know that you had a shadow with you that day we first met, when I found you at Jessica’s door.” 

“Two shadows,” Phil said. “Clint and Natasha were with me.”

Ash frowned, put out. He was sure there had only been one person. By then, Max had joined them and Ash took out his cell phone. He dialed a number he’d memorized long ago and, after just two rings, a familiar voice answered. 

“Hello?”

“Hey, Charlie.”

“Ash. Is something wrong?”

“I just heard a rumor that maybe I’m not being told everything by the cops. What’s this about you can’t get into Dino’s place?”

With a tired-sounding groan, Charlie said, “That’s nothing for you to worry about. I’m not sure who told you that, but we’re taking care of it.”

“You should have told me if there was a problem. I’m not some helpless little kid. You know that.”

“I do, but it’s not that. No matter how much you don’t like hearing it, you’re the victim in this case. The only thing you should be worrying about is recovering. Getting into Golzine’s mansion and finding evidence is my responsibility. I will deal with it. And it’s not the big deal that you seem to think it is, there’s some higher up that doesn’t want us to get the search warrant and I’m sure we’ll find out why as soon as we starting hunting through Golzine’s mansion. These things often take a day or two and I only just...”

“Or we could do things the fast way and I could just give you permission to go in. I own the damned place now that Dino’s dead.”

Charlie was quiet for a minute. “Thank you. Your permission does make it easier. I just... I don’t want you to think you have to do this all by yourself. I was hoping to spare you the stress of having to think about that place and maybe keep you out of the investigation as much as possible.”

“Are you kidding? I’ve been up to my neck in this for years. Now,” he looked down at his feet, then looked up with a hint of a smile. “Now, I’m trying to climb out of the muck. I’ll sign any paper you need me to if that’s what you need to make it legal, but you have my permission to go into Dino’s... no. You have permission to go into MY mansion.” And Ash grimaced because those words left an ugly taste in his mouth. “And don’t keep things from me.” And, because he knew Charlie and knew he’d been trying to be kind, he softened his tone when he added, “You don’t have to protect me. I’m a grown-up, now.”

“I think maybe you should be protected a little more. Grown-up or not.” 

“Yeah, well. Whatever. Look, you getting anywhere about Sing?” They talked for a little while about what had happened to Sing and how Nadia was so upset. Charlie didn’t know anything new. They were getting skin found under Sing’s fingernails tested. There had been blood on his clothes and while Charlie thought it might all come back as Sing’s, there was a possibility that some of it might have belonged to the attacker. Ash told him to look for more than one, because Sing might be small, but he was a fiery little scrapper. If it had been a one-on-one fight, Sing probably would have beat the tar out of his attacker.

Ash hung up and looked at Max and Phil, who’d both been watching him. “Sitwell wasn’t lying.”

“Hey, now.” Max looked between Ash and Phil with an unhappy expression. “What’s this all about? What’s going on?”

Phil motioned to the elevator. “Let’s take this upstairs. No need to talk about all this in public.”

In the elevator, Phil told Max what he knew and what he saw and Ash let his mind drift away from what they were saying. He folded his arms and leaned against the elevator wall. His mind felt like a race track, with all his thoughts a different car competing to be the first to get Ash’s focus. He needed to decide what to do. He needed to check a few items off on that ‘to-do’ list in his head. And in the background, was the thought that Sitwell had planted in Ash’s mind. That the cops weren’t telling him everything. It was an unsettling thought. While there had been dirty cops and some plain jerks, Ash had known Charlie and Captain Jenkins for years and they’d always been straight with him. Heck, the first time he’d met Charlie, the guy had been a beat cop in his shiny new blue uniform walking the streets of Ash’s territory and he looked young enough to be in Ash’s gang. He’d had that wide-eyed, enthusiastic look of a brand-new cop who wanted to save the world. But the world had been the less-than-friendly neighborhood Ash’s gang was based in, where poverty was the norm and violence was sadly common. Still, Charlie always tried to help.

He’d arrested Ash for solicitation on his first day on the job. He’d also bought Ash a ham sandwich from a vending machine in the police station while he waited for Ash to get processed and told really bad knock-knock jokes. Charlie didn’t lie. Ash had seen Charlie try to lie and he was awful at it, completely unconvincing. And Captain Jenkins? The idea of him doing anything underhanded was almost unthinkable. He was like of the cops in old movies - worn and tired but so determined to do what was right and serve justice. The first time Ash had met him, Ash had tried to shoplift a box of granola bars in a convenience store.

Memory-

Ash was real hungry. So hungry he felt like his stomach was trying to eat itself. He had forty-eight cents in his pocket - spare change he’d found on the sidewalk - but even a candy bar cost more than that. So he’d looked around the convenience store for something to eat and he’d desperately hoped Griffin, when he finally came back from the war, would never hear that Ash was a thief. His big brother would have been so ashamed. But the shelters were full and begging hadn’t worked and he really needed to eat. He found the box of granola bars and started to slip it under his shirt when a big hand grabbed his arm and Ash, terrified, looked up.

The man was big. He looked as big as Marvin and that made Ash start to shake. Unlike Marvin, the man holding Ash’s arm had a big, droopy moustache and was starting to go bald. He had dark circles around his eyes and his clothes were rumpled, as if he hadn’t changed his clothes in days.

“You don’t want to do that, kid.”

Ash pulled on his arm. “I didn’t do nuffin’ wrong!”

“But you were thinking it. Don’t.”

Ash wanted to cry. He was caught. He wouldn’t get food and they’d call the cops... and... and then Ash saw the shiny badge hanging on the man’s belt. He was a cop. And Ash knew he was done. Dino was gonna hear about it if he got arrested, again, and - God! - he didn’t want to deal with that. He looked up at the man and made his eyes get as wide and innocent as possible as he squeezed out a tear. “Please, let me go, man. I’ll do anything.” And he really, really hoped this guy wouldn’t want to do what some other cops had wanted in exchange for letting Ash go without a fuss.

The cop raised an eyebrow. “Anything, huh? Let’s see how much you mean that.” He took the box of granola bars from Ash, then released his arm and pointed at the front counter where a clerk stood at the cash register. “March.”

Ash did as he was told until he was standing in front of the clerk - a pudgy old man with a tattoo of a cross on the back of his hand. Ash would have run, but the cop who’d caught him stood between Ash and the door. The cop looked at Ash sternly. “Well? What do you say?”

So Ash confessed. It was embarrassing as anything, but he confessed that he’d tried to steal and then he apologized. To Ash’s shock, the cop went and bought the granola bars, a bottle of water, and four apples. He had the clerk bag up the groceries, then handed the bag to Ash.

“Why?” Ash asked. His hands were clenched tightly on the bag. He might not understand, but he sure as heck wasn’t going to give back the stuff. “Whatdaya want?”

“I want you to not steal. There’s a church, two blocks that way,” he pointed down the street. “They run a soup kitchen and they don’t turn anyone away. You get hungry, go there. It’s called Saint Nicholas Church. What’s your name?”

“Ash.”

“I’m Jenkins. I don’t want to arrest a hungry kid and as I see it, anyone who’s stealing just to steal is going to take cigarettes, booze, or dirty magazines, not granola bars. Have you got a home to go to?”

Ash panicked. He did not want this guy calling child services on him and God only knew what Dino would do if he found out Ash got put into a foster home. Jenkins was nice and he didn’t seem like he wanted to hurt Ash, but... Ash kicked him in the shin and ran, clutching his bag of food to his chest with the awful fear that Jenkins would catch him and take back the food.

End Memory-

Jenkins hadn’t gone after him and he’d never even mentioned the food the next time they’d met. He was good and honest enough that he’d demanded Ash confess what he’d tried to do and apologize for it, so it was real hard to think that he’d be the kind of person to keep secrets when it was Ash who was in so much danger.

The minute J.A.R.V.I.S. opened the elevator doors, Ash left Phil and Max. He needed more time to think.

Ash was still thinking, when he reached Max and Jessica’s apartment that they were allowing him to stay in. He was keenly aware that they were all guests of The Avengers, of Tony Stark in particular, but he was still a guest of Jessica and Max. Really, he shouldn’t have accepted the offer. He should have stayed in his own little room, but he found it strangely easy to sleep when he knew one of them was in the other room and the small guest room Stark had fashioned for him was almost too good to be true. He really liked the lock on the inside of the door. 

Ash only just stepped through the door and into the entryway when he heard voices and paused. He peered into the living room and saw Eiji in the middle of Max and Jessica’s living room, stretching. Without a shirt. He was completely bare from the waist up. It shouldn’t have been a big deal. Ash had seen many, many people completely and revoltingly naked, but... EIJI HAD TAKEN HIS SHIRT OFF!

“Ibe-san,” Eiji said.

Ash only just noticed Ibe-san was in the room. He appeared to be looking through the pictures he’d taken on his camera. He sat on the couch with his ankles crossed in front of him. “Hmm?” Ibe-san didn’t bother to look up.

“I think I am mostly healed.”

“You were shot. You are not almost healed. You do more than stretching and I will tell Jessica you need to be mothered.”

Eiji reached his arms up to the ceiling. He had muscles. How had Ash never noticed? Eiji had said he was an athlete, like a real ‘going-to-the-Olympics’ sort of athlete. Eiji had muscles. Lots of them. And they moved every time Eiji moved, like water rippling, and it was very interesting. Eiji said, “Ah, don’t bother her. She and Max are busy and they will get married, soon. Don’t make her worry.” Eiji, with his back to Ash, reached down to touch his toes and, again, those muscles moved as if they were dancing under Eiji’s skin. “I just think I can do more than stretch. Maybe go for a jog. A slow, short jog.”

Ibe-san did look up and fixed a stern look on Eiji. “You will do nothing more than walk until a doctor tells you otherwise.” It was about as strict and threatening as Ash had ever heard Ibe-san speak, which was to say, not very. “And even then, you will not go alone in case you fall.”

“J.A.R.V.I.S. is everywhere and he’ll see me if I fall. Won’t you, J.A.R.V.I.S.?”

J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke up and said, “I will watch and do what I can, but I can do very little if you fall. I believe Ibe-san is correct in advising you wait for long walks until you have a companion.”

“Ash will walk with me.” Eiji said it without a hint of doubt and, still listening, Ash nodded his head. He would walk with Eiji without any hesitation.

Ibe-san snorted a laugh. “And then you both fall and what happens? You just take it easy for a while.”

Eiji sat on the floor and crossed his legs as he continued stretching. “Yes, Ibe-san. Don’t worry about me. We’re very safe here.” He paused and grinned over his shoulder at Ibe-san. “I wish I brought my trading cards here. You should have told me Ash was staying here before we left Japan. I could have gotten my Thor card signed.”

Ash glowered. Thor? Thor wasn’t even there. What was so great about Thor, anyway? He was big and as muscular as Blanca and was that the kind of thing Eiji admired? Ash looked down at his own thin body and frowned.

Ash nearly went in then, but he saw Michael peeking out of his bedroom. Ash stopped and waited.

With his ever-present teddy bear in his arms, Michael slowly crept out of his bedroom. He looked at Eiji warily before he ran to Ibe-san. In his loudest whispered, he said, “Uncle Shunichi, is Mister Eiji nice?”

“Ei-chan is very nice, Michael-chan. Do you want to talk to him?”

Michael nodded. He gave Ibe-san a hug, then went to sit in front of Eiji with a grim expression on his chubby face. Michael patted his teddy bear for a minute before he said, “Mister Eiji, do you remember me? You were at my house.”

“I do remember you, Michael-chan.” Eiji gave Michael a warm smile. “I’m happy to see you, again.”

“Are you gonna take Ash away to Japan?”

Eiji stopped stretching. He put his hands on his knees and leaned forward a little. “That is a big decision to think about. Right now, there is much to do in America. Ash will not be able to leave for a long time.”

“Yeah? Yeah, well, if you take Ash away, you have to make sure he eats lots ‘cause daddy says he’s too skinny and you have to be nice to him when he has nightmares. You have to take care of Ash.”

With all of solemn gravity of a man swearing an oath on his honor, Eiji said, “I promise, I will always take care of Ash, so long as he lets me.”

“Okay. Okay. That’s good. He’s not really good at taking care of himself.”

A six-year-old felt he had to take care of Ash. Ash couldn’t quite decided whether to laugh or cringe. So he silently snuck into the bedroom he’d given Eiji to use. With the door closed behind him, Ash took a breath and sat on the foot of the bed. He said, “Right, J.A.R.V.I.S., let’s get to work.”

“As you wish.” A holographic image of New York city appeared in front of Ash, speeding by almost too quickly to be of any use, but Ash didn’t mind. He knew who he was looking for.

Phil-

Phil called a meeting and everyone met in his rooms. Normally, they would have had their meeting in the common room, but Phil didn’t want anyone but The Avengers to know what was going on. And so it was that he had all five of them together, waiting for him to start. Steve was patient and silent. Tony’s knee jiggled as he waited, a sure sign of his impatience. Natasha and Clint were, of course, quiet and patient. Bruce sat on the arm of the couch and cleaned his glasses twice while waiting for Phil to start.

“Jasper Sitwell was downstairs just now.”

Everyone stared at him and it was Steve who spoke up. “And? Is that bad?”

“I’m not sure. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to speak to everyone. Did anyone here know he was coming over? I didn’t get any message from Fury that he was sending anyone over and if Sitwell was coming over, he really should have contacted me. J.A.R.V.I.S. doesn’t let just anyone up here, do you, J.A.R.V.I.S.?”

“No, Phil. I would need to have Sir approve an unexpected visit or be informed by a resident of visitors before allowing anyone in the living areas of The Tower.”

“That’s right,” Bruce said. “Tony told everyone that rule when we moved in. I suppose Sitwell didn’t know that. He’s part of S.H.I.E.L.D., so we can trust him. Can’t we?” Bruce’s trust issues ran very deep. “He’s your friend, isn’t he?”

“Well, we work together and I’ve never had any problem with him.” The word, ‘friend’ was such a strong word. Phil didn’t like to use it carelessly. “But he was in the lobby talking with Ash. It could be a coincidence that he just happened to run into Ash and started a conversation, but he left after speaking with Ash. He didn’t even try to contact me. Right. It’s odd, but I don’t know if it’s something to worry about, yet. Onto what does worry me. HYDRA.”

Steve sat up so straight he looked like he had an iron rod for a spine. “One of those men at the building that exploded was definitely identified as a HYDRA agent.” He looked at Bruce, Tony, and Clint who hadn’t gone to the meeting at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. “Fury was NOT happy to find out we had a HYDRA agent in the city.”

“Fury is NEVER happy.” Tony practically jumped to his feet. “Can we talk about what’s more important? Ash. He’s smart. Like ‘graduated-Harvard-at-twelve-years-old’ kind of smart. I wasn’t sure when he did the Rubix Cube, but then J.A.R.V.I.S. let me see the game of Go he and Ash played and let me tell you - wild! Kid’s got a mind for strategy, that’s for sure. And he took Bruce and me to his... I don’t know... club? Hide out? Whatever it was, he needed Bruce to patch up one of his friends and he showed me an old arcade game he’s repairing and I don’t mean some kind of modern knock-off of an old game, I mean this thing was at least forty-years-old and had been very well used. He had it in near working order. While Ash and Bruce were busy with the other kid, I took a closer look at the game and Ash needs maybe two or three parts and he’ll have it in full working order. Yeah, it’s not high-tech computer engineering, but that’s pretty impressive for kid who says he never made it passed the first grade. I really want to know what he can do. And! And! That’s not even counting that fact that he survived all that stuff he went through an he hacked into Golzine’s financial accounts and used it to rob the Corsican Syndicate? And he didn’t get caught! If he’s as smart as I think he is - and I’m NOT wrong! - then I want him in my R&D department. God, with that mind, he could be head of the department in two years.”

Phil’s neck was starting to ache as he watched Tony pace the room in his excitement. Bruce caught Tony’s arm when he passed close enough and, when Tony stopped, said, “He’s only eighteen and it doesn’t sound like he even knows what he wants to do with his life, yet. He must be under a great deal of strain. Maybe... don’t put more pressure on him, yet?”

From anyone else, Tony likely would have brushed it off, but he listened to Bruce. Phil didn’t entirely understand the friendship between the two anymore than he understood exactly what was between Clint and Natasha, but Tony listened to Bruce. Maybe it was the science. Tony knew a great many scientists, but he and Bruce could talk for hours about things that left other people scratching their heads in bafflement and laugh at jokes no one else understood. So when Bruce spoke up, Tony listened.

“Maybe,” Clint said, “He doesn’t want to be an engineer. You know, I was talking with Max and he said Ash is a crack shot. I want to take him down to the shooting range and see how good his aim is.” He gave Tony a mildly challenging look. “Maybe he’ll want to be sniper and work for S.H.I.E.L.D., like me.”

Tony put both hands over his heart and staggered backwards. “No! He can’t let that mind... S.H.I.E.L.D.? You think he’d work for Fury? Oh, no. That’s not gonna fly. They won’t know how to challenge him.” And he waved both hands in the air in front of his face, as if to chase away unwanted thoughts. “All the S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists know how to build its weapons.” He paused. “No offense to my S.H.I.E.L.D. friends present.”

“None taken,” Phil, Natasha, and Clint all chorused as they knew Tony wasn’t the biggest fan of S.H.I.E.L.D. and had no trouble expressing his feelings about it.

“But he’d be wasted at S.H.I.E.L.D.!” Tony looked like he might cry. “He should be here where he can experiment and grow. He’d never get bored my my research department. I could pay for him to go to school, if he likes.”

Phil leaned forward in his chair and put his hands over his face. He tried very hard not to smile. Tony meant well, but he was a little overbearing and Phil was very pleased that Tony hadn’t started going on like that in front of Ash. Somehow, Phil didn’t think Ash would appreciate it. 

“You never know. He might like to be an electrician or a plumber,” Steve said. “There’s nothing wrong with a good, sensible trade.”

“Of course there’s not, but...” Tony looked around the room as if they’d all betrayed him. “But I want to hire him!”

Phil rubbed his face and forced himself not to smile. It was time for business and Tony seemed like he’d gotten his excitement out of his system. Phil sat up and tried to sound stern, though Fury had often told him that he didn’t do ‘stern’ well. “Let’s get back on track and Tony, try to hold off on job offers under all this mess is dealt with. HYDRA.” He was pleased when everyone got back on track so easily. “We know that one man Natasha identified was a HYDRA agent, but since then, we had a meeting with Fury who had organized with the local police to identify the other men. They aren’t talking, but Fury’s working on it. One of the men was dead, but not from the fire or smoke inhalation. Anyone want to guess how he died? You three,” he looked at his team members who’d gone to the meeting with Fury. “Don’t answer, you already know how he died.”

“Something fell on him?” Bruce guessed.

“No. Next guess?”

Clint thought for a moment. “One of his buddies turned on him and shot him.”

“Nope. Tony?”

“Shark attack?”

“Tony...”

“What?”

“Never mind. No, he wasn’t killed by a shark. The man had heart problems. As in, his heart was crushed.” He gave that a minute to sink in and Bruce frowned. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it and Phil said, “Go on, Bruce. Say what you’re thinking.”

“How was a heart crushed? You said nothing fell on him.”

“I did say that. According to the forensic investigators, there was no sign that anything fell where that man was found and, yet, the coroner found a tremendous bruise on the man’s chest, just over his heart. When the man was opened up, the heart was crushed, like someone had hit it with a baseball bat.”

That got Natasha’s attention and she frowned. Phil could tell it was a real show of emotion, something rare that made it all the more important for Phil to pay attention to it, so he gave her a minute and waited until she was ready to speak. “It is possible for a person to crush another person’s heart with a single blow. There are very few people who can do that.”

“Can you do it?” Clint asked curiously.

“No. It takes immense strength as well as the proper training in exactly how to strike. I am not strong enough. I did know someone, once, who was able to do it.”

“Who?”

But Natasha turned away. “He’s gone.”

There was no forcing Natasha to talk when she didn’t want to, so Phil moved on and hoped she’d speak with someone later, even if it wasn’t him. “Alright. So, we know HYDRA is in the city. We know that Ash was attacked in Chinatown, though the shooters didn’t succeed. Fury’s looking into them, too. We know those two men were killed by person or persons unknown. It seems most likely that someone was trying to keep Ash alive. It would be nice to think that it was just a person trying to do good by saving a life, but I’m afraid I’m not that optimistic. Considering what we know about Ash and his knowledge of the Banana Fish drug, can we all agree that it’s possible that HYDRA may take an interest in Ash?”

Tony cursed. “They’ll want him and the drug.”

“Maybe.” Everyone looked at Bruce. He squirmed with all the eyes on him, but continued to speak. “It’s all just conjecture, isn’t it? We found one HYDRA agent. There may be more. Or not. It’s possible that finding that agent is nothing but coincidence. Maybe that agent was here for an entirely different reason. We don’t know for certain that HYDRA is after Ash.”

“No,” Steve answered. “But we should act as if they are.”

Ash-

Ash was busy. It was good that way, he didn’t get bored. J.A.R.V.I.S. played the video from what the drone was seeing on the streets as it hunted for Gregory. No luck so far, but there were a lot of places to hide and places the drone couldn’t go. After all, the drone couldn’t search through any buildings or under the canopy of trees in Central Park or in the sewers. Really, Ash thought as he hunched over his knees and stared at the image J.A.R.V.I.S. showed him, he needed to get out of the Tower. It did him little good to stay inside and if it hadn’t been to protect Jessica and Michael, he wouldn’t have accepted in the first place. 

While the video played and Ash kept half his attention on the streets, noting idly that he’d have to have a word with Alex when he saw one of his guys spraying graffiti on the side of a small grocery store. Didn’t his guys have any class? If you were going to go tagging, then at least put some art up and not just dirty words. He looked at his phone, an image of a bank’s website on the screen. With a few taps on the phone, he entered the screen name and password and waited until the account’s page was brought up. He took a quick look through the account he’d set up for Sing. It hadn’t been touched.

He alternated for a while, looking between the image J.A.R.V.I.S. showed him and the account page displayed on his phone. Every now and again he rubbed his eyes. They were starting to get sore and he wished he’d thought to bring his reading glasses from his apartment. Dino hadn’t given him those, so they couldn’t be evidence, right? He should be at least allowed to have his glasses.

“Ash, what are you doing?”

“Stuff.” Ash didn’t look up when Eiji came in and sat next to him on the bed, thankfully fully dressed. “How are you feeling? You need to rest?” Ash started to push himself up off the bed, perfectly ready to give it to Eiji if he showed even the slightest hint that he might need to rest because Eiji deserved a little consideration. Ash didn’t want to think about Eiji pushing him away when Shao Ti and his friend had rushed into the room and how that had put Eiji right in the path of the bullet. Ash pushed it away, just like Blanca had always taught him, but the image wouldn’t go quietly. He saw Eiji cry out and saw him fall and it was as if it were all in slow motion. Ash had killed Shao Ti and his friend for shooting Eiji, saw him fall and, though a haze of red fury coloring his vision, had heard Sing yelling for Ash to stop because Shao Ti was already dead.

Ash blinked and looked back at the screen J.A.R.V.I.S. showed him.

“I’m alright,” Eiji said. “You?”

“I’m okay.” The pain was nearly gone. Well, it was a lot less than it had been and Ash thought that was probably good enough. And he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so many people worried about his health. It was a little unnerving. Speaking of unnerving... “Um, so... sorry about lil’ Michael giving you orders out there. He’s a funny kid.”

“He likes you and I like that he wants to have someone take care of you. You know what that means, don’t you?”

There was something teasing and sly in Eiji’s voice that made Ash wary. “No. What?”

“Tofu sandwiches and natto with rice.” He nudged Ash’s arm. “Got to make sure you eat right.”

Ash groaned, but looked away so Eiji wouldn’t see his smile. The whole world was falling down, but Eiji was smiling, so things were sure to work out. They talked of nothing of consequence while Ash also kept his attention on his phone and on J.A.R.V.I.S.’ hologram. They talked about Bones and about what the guys were likely to do with all their money. They talked about Eiji’s family and his flights to and from Japan. Eventually, they started to talk about the final battle between Ash and Foxx, how Ash had driven a power drill through Foxx’s chest and even that hadn’t been enough to kill him. “Dino showed up and shot Foxx through the head. How’s that for a kicker? Dino saved me. And then he fell off the edge of the building and into the fire of the helicopter crash below. Charlie told me they fished his body out. He’s dead. Really dead.”

“Max told me. Are you happy?”

“No. It’s stupid. I watched him fall and you know,” Ash leaned forward a little and said, “Don’t tell Max - J.A.R.V.I.S., don’t you tell anyone, either! - but... I think... I think if I could have saved him, I would have. What kind of screwed up person am I? I want him dead. I’m glad he’s dead. He deserves to be dead. But... when I saw him start to fall, I ran to him. And I felt,” Ash had to pause, his breath was coming too quick and too hard. He waited until he calmed before he said, “I felt like I... I felt... I don’t know what I felt. After everything he did, I shouldn’t feel bad that I couldn’t save him. All the people he killed, all the lives he ruined, all the lives he would have ruined if he’d gotten Banana Fish put into use like he wanted to... and I still... Damn it. I really am screwed up.”

Eiji took Ash’s hand and squeezed it. “That’s because you’re a wonderful person. You are good and compassionate and you want to save everyone.”

Ash would have laughed if anyone else had said it, but Eiji spoke with such a serious tone that Ash knew he believed what he said. He believed Ash was a good person. “I think it’s just one more way I’m messed up.” Because, seriously, he would have shot and killed Dino given half-a-chance. He had shot Dino, once. So it didn’t make any sense at all. “I told Max I’ll think about seein’ a shrink.”

Eiji made a face. “A what? I don’t understand.”

“A psychiatrist. Someone to fix me. You know, I don’t feel like me, lately. Ever since we came here,” Ash waved his hand around vaguely at the room. “I don’t feel like ‘me’. I feel... I don’t know... relaxed? It’s weird. I keep thinking that this can’t last. They’re too nice and I feel like I’m going soft. I cried in front of everyone when I thought Shorter had been in Club Cod. Cried.” He hated himself for that stupid, weak show of emotions, but lately, it seemed like he just couldn’t keep his emotions under control and that was dangerous. He needed more control and he was growing scared of how complacent he felt in The Avengers’ Tower, under their protection. Blanca had always warned of the danger of letting oneself grow too comfortable and at ease.

Eiji leaned forward a little and looked at the floor between his feet. “It’s not a bad thing to cry, even in front of other people. Or to feel relaxed. Maybe it’s just weird because it’s new?”

“Maybe. I -” Ash broke off when a soft ‘ding’ from his phone made him look at it, sharply. He tapped a few buttons, watched the screen, then tapped a few more buttons. He stood up and, without looking at Eiji, said, “I gotta talk to Max. Someone just got into the bank account I gave Sing and unless he made a miraculous recovery, I’m gonna guess it was whoever took the information I gave him - the people who attacked him.” A grin that was far from happy settled on his lips.

Eiji-

Eiji watched Ash leave. Before the door closed behind Ash, Eiji heard him say, “J.A.R.V.I.S., want to see if you can help me hunt some people online? They used the internet to get the money, so I think we can follow their cyber trail back to...” And that was the last Eiji heard.

Ash’s room was very comfortable. A small stack of manga on the dresser and Eiji would have felt quite at home. The bed was new and firm with a heavy blanket. The room was a perfect temperature, not to warm or too cool. Even though there were no windows (security, Max had explained when Eiji had complained that Ash should have fresh air and sunshine) the room was lit so well that it seemed bright and airy. There were books that Eiji didn’t know the titles to, but he had never been a great reader, let alone of English novels.

Eiji turned to the drone’s holographic image that still played. He wouldn’t fail Ash.

In less than ten minutes, Eiji’s serious attitude had faded into admiration for what he watched in front of him. Yes, it was serious business and he had no desire at all to see what Gregory would do with the Banana Fish if they didn’t catch him, but watching the video was equal parts exhilarating and relaxing. It felt like he was flying through New York. He saw places he recognized and lots of new places. J.A.R.V.I.S. was good enough to tell Eiji about all the things he had questions about. It was wonderful, so amazing to see the city as if he were a bird.

And then he saw Gregory.

Gregory had been peering out at something from an alley and he looked a great deal different from the last time Eiji had seen him. His hair had been dyed and he was clean shaven, but it was him. That face... it was him.

Eiji’s throat dried up. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. A terrible, overwhelming fear washed over him.

Captured. Taken to Golzine. Arthur had been there, smirking when Shorter had been dragged away, yelling and cursing. Eiji had been taken to a bedroom and stripped. Eiji hadn’t lied to Ash when he’d said that Golzine hadn’t touched him, but Gregory had held a knife at Eiji’s throat until Eiji stopped fighting when he was undressed. The knife blade had been cold against his skin. Gregory had glared at him the whole time and when Eiji’s clothes were gone, it was Gregory who’d tied Eiji’s wrists to the bed’s headboard with a rope.

“You’re nothing special,” Gregory had told him when Eiji was helpless. “Just a common little mouse. He doesn’t love you.”

Eiji didn’t know what Gregory had been talking about, but there had been something awful in Gregory’s eyes - something burning and cold. He’d had nightmares about Gregory and, while he’d never told Ash, he would admit to himself that Gregory terrified him like no one else could. Eiji had never been so afraid of any person in his life. 

In the hologram, Gregory pulled out a gun from somewhere and aimed at the drone. One shot and the image went to gray static. 

“The drone has been disabled,” J.A.R.V.I.S. announced.

To Be Continued...


	22. Sergei

Chapter 22: Sergei

Earlier-  
Thema Shehata-

The sun was shining when Thema Shehata sat on a bench in a small park. It wasn’t Central Park, nothing nearly so grand, but it did have wide open spaces and a clear view in all directions. There was no way for anyone to overhear her. She sat there with her cellphone and kept going over different news sites on it. There were plenty of stories of Club Cod, plenty of little mentions about a bit of evidence being found here or there. There had even been one story that had mentioned when the men who’d been arrested at Club Cod would be having their day in court, but she didn’t see her name. When she had finished, she began to look at news sites from countries other than America. There were fewer stories of Club Cod, but there had been some along with speculation about who might be implicated. There were a rare few stories about Dino Golzine, a respected businessman running such a place as Club Cod and how no one could have ever suspected it. Still, she didn’t see her name. She kept waiting, expecting it to appear and ruin her life. Sitwell had said he’d taken her name off the list that the police had, but she didn’t trust him. She had an awful feeling that, sooner or later, her name would turn up and then it would all be over.

She turned her phone off with a scowl. It wasn’t as if she’d done anything bad... not really. Club Cod had been a clean place, the children had all been healthy - aside from being kept drugged - and fed. She wasn’t a bad person. And it had just been one boy. She wasn’t bad. No, Golzine never should have tempted her with what he offered at Club Cod. It was definitely his fault, not hers, that she was in such a predicament. She hadn’t done anything wrong. It wasn’t her fault. Not a bit of it.

In her hand, Thema’s phone rang. A look at the screen showed her a phone number she recognized. She looked carefully all around and, when she saw that she was entirely alone, she stood up and started walking away from the bench before she answered. “Yes?”

“We’ve got him, Madam Shehata.”

Her breath caught in her throat and she stopped walking. “You’re sure?”

“We’ve tracked Blanca to his hotel room. We’re right outside. He won’t escape.”

“Don’t underestimate him.”

“There are five people in my team, Madam. We’re all armed and trained. There won’t be any issues.”

“Just bring me the necklace with the two rings and make sure Blanca is dead when you leave him. I don’t care how you do it, but kill him.”

“Not a problem.” He told her where he and his team were and hung up. 

Thema, eager to have that necklace in hand, left the park and made her way to where she hoped Blanca would die. With every step she took closer to the address her soldier had given her, she felt her heart lighten with hope that her troubles would be over. The feeling of relief that washed over Thema was like a tidal wave. She almost felt faint from it. If she got the Banana Fish for HYDRA, and proved her value, it would put her in a much better position to keep her secret safe.

And then an explosion rocked the city. She heard it an instant before the ground trembled and she felt something - a shockwave, she’d later realized - push against her. The street was suddenly filled with yelling people. Someone was screaming. Thema listened to the wailing sirens of approaching fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances. People ran by her and she heard them talking about a fire, a building had blown-up. She looked up and saw black smoke rising into the sky in great plumes. 

“No. No, no, no.” She quickened her step and there, at the address her soldier had given her, it looked as if a bomb had hit the building. There was fire and broken chunks of masonry on the ground. Police were holding back crowds of gawking spectators while firefighters rushed here and there to tame the flames. She stood near the back of the crowd and watched. All the relief she’d felt melted away. That was the building her soldier had been in, where he’d had Blanca cornered. The situation only got worse when she saw several members of The Avengers’ team in the crowd. She watched with dread when five men were brought out by several members of The Avengers team and with only a fleeting glance she saw that they were her men. She did not see any sign of anyone fitting Blanca’s description and, though she’d never seen him, she had heard that he was a massive man and she should have noticed him at once if he were around. He might be dead and still in the building, in which case she would probably never get the necklace and rings Gregory demanded as payment for the Banana Fish. He might be alive and have escaped the explosion, which, given his reputation, was entirely possible. The fact that she just didn’t know sent a cold chill down her spine. The Avengers left. Ambulances with the HYDRA soldiers left. The crowds began to disperse. Soon, only the firefighters and police investigating the explosion were still at the site.

She swallowed hard, then turned and started to walk away. Less than two hours later, she was in the apartment she used while in New York. She found several messages from Nick Fury on her answering machine, but ignored them. He worked for her, not the other way around. She hadn’t been in to work in days, not since the whole mess Golzine had left behind him had turned into headline news. She shrugged off her coat and put her purse on the table, feeling put upon by the whole world. It wasn’t until she stood in her living room that she felt she was being watched. She tensed all over and casually went to the kitchen where she would be able to get a hold of a knife. 

In the kitchen, Jasper Sitwell sat at the table with one leg crossed over the other. “Fifty soldiers?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you, obviously.” His voice seemed to make the air chilly. “Do I understand correctly that you obtained fifty soldiers from HYDRA in your attempt to regain the Banana Fish?”

“Yes. I had all necessary approval.”

“I saw that. You then sent those fifty people out across the city for what purpose?”

She gritted her teeth. “I found the person who knows where the Banana Fish is, but he’s not willing to hand it over unless I can get Blanca killed.”

Sitwell raised an eyebrow at the name ‘Blanca’. “Blanca is in the city? And you want to kill him? Do you never think of the future of HYDRA? He would make a magnificent agent. He should be contacted.”

Thema let out a sigh. “Have you lost your mind? Blanca is a renegade, a mercenary. Do you seriously believe you can tame him?”

“There is no harm in trying.” He sat back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other. “And why are you jumping to someone’s orders? He’ll only give you the Banana Fish if you do what he wants? There are more efficient ways to get information. I know you’ve been on desk-duty for a long while, but you can’t have forgotten that.”

Thema slapped the palms of her hands on the table. “I have forgotten nothing! Don’t talk to me like I’m some soft-handed administrator! I was a field agent while you were still wondering how to get rid of pimples! The man who has the Banana Fish is Gregroy Dufort - Dino Golzine’s bodyguard. I know what I’m doing and I know that Gregory will not break under threat of pain or death. I remember him at Golzine’s back for as long as I’ve been involved with this project. He has mindless loyalty to Golzine, even with Golzine dead. He has no other motivation in life but to serve Golzine. He was one of Golzine’s boys, you know.”

It was satisfying to see the look of surprise on Sitwell’s face. Finally, something he didn’t know.

“Oh, yes. Turns out, Golzine had been running his business for many years and Gregory was one of his first boys. For whatever reason, Gregory grew loyal, so much so that Golzine allowed him to survive and to serve him. He went from being merchandise, to being Golzine’s bodyguard. And to this day, he still calls Golzine ‘Papa Dino’.” She shook her head and folded her hands in front of her. “He will not submit to torture. He’s out to avenge Golzine - that’s clear enough - and he needs Blanca out of the way to do it. So, since he’s too engrossed in his plans to give up, I give him what he wants, then he gives me what I want.”

“Does Gregory want to kill the witness against Club Cod?” Sitwell asked it quietly and Thema could see from the tiny twitch on the corner of his eyes, that he was almost beyond furious. 

“I don’t know.” When Sitwell opened his mouth to protest, Thema held up a hand to stop him. “Save it. I know - you want him for HYDRA and you won’t take any chances. I already thought of that. So the minute Gregory gives me the Banana Fish, I will kill him. I won’t take the chance of letting him hurt your new acquisition.”

“Let’s put that aside for a moment. Do you realize that your hunt has ended up in a very conspicuous explosion in the middle of New York City? It was so very obvious that the entire team of The Avengers showed up to help rescue the poor victims. They pulled five men out of the fire. One of the men was dead and a preliminary examine reported that his heart had been crushed.”

There were few people in the world with the training to do something like that and Blanca was one of them, she knew very well.

“One of the survivors has been identified as a HYDRA agent. Nick Fury is, understandably, upset. He has posted guards in the hospital and there are plans to move those men to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters so they can be questioned. I don’t think I should have to remind you that when Fury gets personally involved in an interrogation session, there are very, very few people who can resist him. Those men you sent out have less than a year experience in the field - they’ll talk the minute Fury gets his hands on them.”

“They don’t know anything except that they were sent out to find Blanca. They don’t know anything about the Banana Fish.”

Sitwell snarled, without moving an inch, “They know YOU sent them! Have you forgotten - already! - that if you are discovered, years worth of operations will be ruined. Everyone inside S.H.I.E.L.D. and the World Security Council will have to be pulled out and new people will have to be trained to take their places. And, after all this, where is Blanca? Do you even have a trace on him or has your little operation only alerted him to the fact that he’s being hunted? Because if he decides to retaliate rather than run, then your life is most definitely on the line. At this point, I’m tempted to give you to Blanca.” Sitwell sniffed and straightened his necktie before he pushed his glasses up a littler higher on his nose with one finger. “The captured men need to be liberated or killed. As you’ve already set this in motion, find Blanca to complete the deal with Gregory Dufort and then kill Dufort. This has been going on long enough. I don’t want any more of our people caught or identified - it’s already hard enough to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. out of our way.” He didn’t wait for a reply, but walked out with a biting, “Don’t mess up, again. You’re running out of chances.”

She sat on her couch and did nothing for a time and when Gregory called on the phone and asked, “How’s it going? Any news for me?”

“I don’t have the necklace, yet. My people are working on it.”

Gregory was quiet for a moment. “Let me make this clear - every minute that Blanca is alive, my life is in danger. He doesn’t like me. If he kills me, you will never - NEVER - get your hands on the Banana Fish. If I see any sign that you’ll betray me, I’ll sell the Banana Fish to the highest bidder and that highest bidder won’t be you.”

“Now just hold on,” Thema sat forward a little, desperate to calm him before he did something she would regret. “There’s no reason to be rash. Blanca isn’t an easy man to find, let alone kill. You have to give me time. And why are you in a hurry? You said before that Blanca was in your way. What’s your game? What will you do when Blanca is dead? No matter what it is, I’m sure I can help.”

“I won’t take any help with that. It’s personal. You just worry about Blanca.” And he hung up.

Later-  
The Avengers’ Tower-  
Natasha-

After the meeting in Phil’s rooms when he’d told them about the HYDRA agents they’d found and about Agent Sitwell coming to the Tower and speaking with Ash, Natasha had left the meeting. She’d gone straight to the gym to run on a treadmill as it was one of the most effective ways for her to settle her thoughts.

She had said very little in the meeting. She hadn’t seen a need to. Phil informed them about what was happening and he gave orders; that was how life worked. Orders were simple and easy and Natasha liked them. Of late, Phil and Clint had been encouraging her to made her own decisions and choices, but that often left her muddled. Orders were much preferred. She’d said nothing when Phil had spoken about Sitwell or when he’d mentioned the HYDRA agents. She hadn’t even said anything when Tony and Clint had started talking about having Ash work with them because Tony thought he was brilliant and Clint wanted a decent shooting partner. But, she couldn’t help but think that it sounded a tiny bit as if they were trying to arrange his life, as if they thought they might decide for him what he would be.

Memory-

“Move! Move!”

Natasha ran with all her might right along with the other girls in her group, all in their uniform black shorts and white, sleeveless shirt. Her breath labored in her chest and her legs burned as she ran furiously around the track. It was large, the type of thing that might have been used to train athletes, with a large grassy area in the center of the track. The trainer drove a little motorized cart next to the girls running and shouted as she did.

“I expect better of all of you. I had best not see any failure. Failure will be punished. Failure is unacceptable. What did I say!”

As one, all eight girls running on the track shouted back, “Failure will be punished! Failure is unacceptable!”

Natasha was twelve. Her hair was tied into thick braids that slapped against her shoulder blades when she ran. She wanted it short, but the trainers kept everyone’s hair long. When they were ready to go out into the world and do missions, long hair would be an advantage when trying to seduce a target... or so they were told. So her hair was long and sweaty and sticking to the sides of her face and on she ran. They ran forever, it seemed, and only stopped when one of the girls in Natasha’s group dropped. Natasha had seen it out of the corner of her eye. The girl next to her had fallen, collapsing in a heap, but Natasha, and every other girl in the group, kept running until the trainer yelled at them to stop. As one, they all stopped running and turned to face the trainer who stood over the fallen girl. It was Petya, who had always strived to best Natasha, but had never quite managed it.

The trainer got out of her little cart and stood over Petya. “Failure will be punished. Stand up.”

Petya did as she was told, her legs shaky from exhaustion. She, like all of them, knew what was coming but didn’t resist.

From out of her little cart, the trainer pulled out a switch. Then, she looked at Natasha. “Come here. You’ll do it and show her how badly her failure angers her classmates.”

Natasha took the switch. She didn’t want to. Petya had been exhausted, they all were. She didn’t want to. But she raised the switch high and brought it down sharply, striking Petya on the left leg. Petya didn’t cry out or move. She waited for the next blow which Natasha delivered to Petya’s right leg.

The trainer growled, “Failure will be punished. Failure is not allowed. Repeat with each strike!”

Again, the whole group did as they were told, even Petya as she breathed hard and shook as she struggled not to cry out. Ten blows was all it took for the trainer to be satisfied and take the switch from Natasha. They were made to run back to the dormitory, even Petya with her bloody legs.

In the dorm, when everyone stood at attention at the ends of their cots and waited to be allowed to sleep, the trainer had stood in front of Natasha and smiled down at her. It hadn’t been a nice smile. “You did very well today, Natasha. You beat your personal best in running and you didn’t flinch when obeying orders. This is the right life for you. Be grateful you were chosen for this program because we’re going to make you into a perfect weapon.”

Natasha knew the right answer. “Thank you.”

End Memory-

To that day, Natasha could almost feel the switch in her hand.

It was wrong to decide what other peoples lives ought to be. She had never wanted to hurt people, never wanted to be a weapon, but that was just how life had worked out. They had made her perfect. She was excellent at her work, there were few people in the whole world who could compare, but she hadn’t chosen it.

Natasha turned up the speed on the treadmill.

It was too late to chose something different, because she was what she had been made to be.

Neither Tony nor Clint would ever to that sort of thing to another person, she was sure. They were good. They didn’t hurt people just to hurt them. They were her friends, her family, and she would trust them, even if the whole conversation they’d had made her uneasy.

The meeting hadn’t gone any easier when Phil had mentioned the crushed heart. The dead man they’d pulled out of the burning building had died because his heart had been crushed. Crushed. There were so few people who could do that, even Natasha had never been able to do it because she simply wasn’t strong enough.

Sergei. 

She remembered Sergei with regret. It was possible that someone else had crushed that man’s heart, but in her career, Sergei was the only person Natasha had ever met who’d been capable of delivering that blow. She had seen it, once.

“Nat?”

Startled by the voice, Natasha looked up and found that Phil was standing next to her treadmill. She hadn’t even heard him enter the gym and, shamed by her lack of attention, Natasha bit the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood and the pain soothed some of her guilt. She was supposed to notice everything, to be constantly aware. To be so lost in thought that she could fail to notice someone standing right next to her... it was disgraceful.

“Nat, you left the meeting very quickly. Practically ran out of the room. Everyone’s worried.”

And that wouldn’t do. She was negatively affecting the team which could end up causing troubles on a mission. And Clint would look at her with those big, sad eyes if he was worried. Natasha stopped the treadmill, but didn’t step off. “That was not intended. I needed to think.” And she hadn’t sorted everything out, but she did think one thing was clear - no matter how conflicted her thoughts were, her team needed all the information if they were to succeed. So she told Phil, “I believe The Red Room is involved in our current mission.”

Phil blinked. He folded his hands behind his back and looked down at his shoes, as he sometimes did when he was thinking, then looked back at Natasha. “How do you think they’re involved? Are they after Ash, too?”

“I don’t know. But the person I knew who could crush a heart... he was part of The Red Room. I know that when we examined the bodies of the shooters in Chinatown, Ash had made the comment that leaving bodies laying around was ‘sloppy and unprofessional’. In The Red Room, we were all taught that it was sloppy and unprofessional to leave evidence where it could be so easily found. That he would say those exact words seems suspect, especially when an agent from a rival organization is found with his heart crushed.”

Phil grimaced. “HYDRA and The Red Room... this is getting messy.”

“It’s not Ash’s fault.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I know. Doesn’t change the fact that this is all getting just as muddled as I’d feared it would. However, at a glance, this man you know who can crush a person’s heart killed a HYDRA agent, they weren’t going after Ash. Is it possible that this person you knew turned against The Red Room, like you did? What can you tell me about him? How well do you know him?”

“He was my husband. It had been such a long time since she’d even thought about Sergei.

Memory-

Natasha had been twenty-three-years-old when she had been given an unusual mission. She had been ordered to report to a briefing room and the moment she walked in, the cold of the room seemed to seep into her bones. The room was made of unpainted cinder blocks. The floor was bare cement. There were bright lights overheard, almost too bright for comfort. In the middle of the room was a metal table and two metal chairs. The trainer who would give Natasha her mission was already seated at the table when Natasha walked in and that woman didn’t so much as look up from her paperwork when Natasha walked in. 

“Sit.”

Natasha sat and waited.

After several minutes, the trainer finally looked up at her and said, “Your mission is to test one of our operatives.” The trainer put a folder on the table and slid it over to Natasha. “Take a look. You’re going to get to know him very well.”

She had questions the moment she opened the folder and found the photograph of a black-haired man in a military uniform. His face was broad and square as he looked at the camera without expression. 

“I’m sure you’ve noticed he’s a man. You had no reason to know before, but The Red Room does have a male division. It had been decided that it would be best to keep males and females apart to discourage unwanted physical interactions, so the two halves of our organization were kept separate. Separate facilities entirely, in fact. He was trained many miles away from here. You won’t have met him. His name is Sergei Varishikov and he received much of the same training that you did. You are going to test him and see if you can tempt him into turning traitor against us.”

It was a test Natasha had never heard of, but she didn’t question her orders. The thought never even occurred to her.

“He is the prize of our organization, a perfect specimen. However, he is so good that it is feared he will attempt to rebel and, with his skills, he would be able to do that without much difficulty. We need to be certain of his loyalty and you will be the one to do that. You will take the role of a civilian woman who chances to meet him. You will attempt to seduce him and make every effort to get him to talk about our organization. If he tells you any secrets, we will know he can’t be trusted.”

Talking about The Red Room was forbidden. One did not speak about The Red Room to anyone outside the walls of the headquarters and to do so was the gravest sin possible. If it were discovered that an agent did tell an outsider about The Red Room, they would be slated either for retraining or termination. Frankly, if Natasha had to chose between the two, she would have chosen termination.

Natasha looked quickly through the packet of information the trainer had given her. There was a photograph of Sergei - large with dark hair - and a physical description of height and weight and other such identifiable features. There was a list of his jobs - all successes - and of his educational accomplishments - a degree in psychology and in psychiatry. He wouldn’t be easy to deceive. If the people in the male division of The Red Room had training that was similar to what she had gone through, then part of his training would have been to resist such temptations and if he couldn’t resist, then he wasn’t such a perfect agent as the trainer seemed to think he was. 

The trainer kept talking. “Your code name will be Natasha Karsavina. Here is the clothing for your cover.” Natasha’s trainer put a pile of clothes on the table. There was a pink dress with lace on the collar and white sandals. There was a brimmed hat with a daisy tucked into a ribbon. “Your hair will be dyed, too. We have already had him approached by several agents, none of whom he showed any interest in, and one of them was a redhead. You’ll have blonde hair.”

Natasha turned a page in the file and saw photographs of the women who’d failed to get Sergei’s attention. One wore a leather mini-skirt, one dressed in blue jeans and a t-shirt. It appeared they would have her go for a ‘sweet-and-innocent’ look when the other two looks hadn’t worked.

After that, it was a simple process to getting ready for the mission. She studied Sergei’s records and sat quietly while her hair was cut short and colored blonde. She didn’t like it blonde, but what she liked or disliked had very little relevance. She dressed in her new costume and went out to create a chance meeting. It all worked out very well. She succeeded where the others had failed and, after quite a bit of time, managed to seduce Sergei. He didn’t spill any secrets. She romanced him and whispered sweet things to him. He still kept quiet. When he’d asked her to marry him, she had agreed because she hadn’t been told that the mission was over and she had to play her part. They married and, still, he told her nothing about The Red Room or his training. She tried all of her tricks, but he had easily dodged questions and would only tell her that he worked for the military. She simply couldn’t get him to say or do anything incriminating.

Her admiration for him as an agent was immense as he had played the role of innocent civilian very well and, as far as she could tell, his only failing had been that he hadn’t realized that she, too, was an agent of The Red Room. Natasha hadn’t been entirely certain why or how the deception had worked as Sergei had been perfect in all other regards, but, for whatever reason, he had developed feelings for Natasha and he had decided to act upon those feelings. He had given her flowers. He had taken her on walks. He had confessed his love. He had married her. And through it all, even when they each wore a gold wedding band and had settled into several months of comfortable matrimony, Segei had apparently never guessed that she was only there to test him.

End Memory-

Natasha told Phil, “I had to report to my superior that Sergei wouldn’t break. His training was excellent and no amount of persuasion could tempt him.”

“Did you like him?”

“He was good to me, I think. If the briefing I was given was to be believed, he had as little experience with personal relationships as I did, but he played his role so well. He’d always been gentle, always mindful of how much bigger he was than me. I didn’t dislike being with him. He is the only person I ever married.” She shrugged. “But as he couldn’t be convinced to betray our superiors, they determined that he was as reliable as any other agent. I was told that the mission was over. I was to go to another job.”

“How did Sergei take that?” Phil asked.

“He didn’t. In order to prevent him pursing me, my death was faked. It was very well done. I never found out what happened to him, but there were rumors that he disappeared shortly after my death. Perhaps, that he had even escaped The Red Room.” At the time, it had been an unthinkable possibility that someone would escape The Red Room, but she had to change her mind as she thought about it. “If anyone could have escaped, he could have. I looked into his records very closely in preparation for my mission. He was immensely skilled. I think if he had escaped and they had sent anyone to bring him back to The Red Room, they would not have survived the attempt.”

Phil made a sound that was almost a laugh. “It’d be ironic if you had been sent to test his loyalty, but taking you away from him turned him disloyal.”

Natasha didn’t know what to say to that. “Sergei could crush a person’s heart. I saw him do it, once. A man pulled a knife on us when we were out walking. He tried to grab me but Sergei punched him. It was just one blow, but the man fell, instantly dead. Sergei brushed it off, said he just knocked the man out, but he didn’t know I was an agent, too. I know death when it’s right in front of me.”

“So, you think this Sergei killed the man we found? He’s around?”

“It is possible, but I doubt it. Far more likely that some other The Red Room agent with the same training Sergei had is operating in the area. Sergei hasn’t been seen or heard of in years. Most likely, he is dead.” And it hurt to say it because while she hadn’t been in love with him, Sergei had been kind to her and she’d had precious little of that in life. 

J.A.R.V.I.S.’ voice suddenly sounded, “Phil, Gregory has been seen! Eiji saw him on the drone’s camera and he is most upset.”

“Call everyone to the common room, please,” Phil said even as he and Natasha hurried out of the gym.

It seemed that everyone had arrived in the common room at the same time and it was nearly a full house. Only Jessica and Michael had stayed away as she didn’t want Michael to be frightened if he saw or heard something he shouldn’t. Ash looked grim but was quiet and in control. Max spoke quietly to Ash and had a hand on his shoulder. Just after Phil and Natasha had walked in, Eiji, limping heavily on his cane, walked in with Ibe-san at his side. Eiji didn’t so much as look at anyone else in the room, he went straight to Ash.

“I saw him!” Eiji exclaimed. “I saw Gregory. Just after you left the room. He was near that place... the corner where the hot dog stand is. The one you took me to. I think that’s where he was. I saw him. Ash, I know it was him!” Eiji spoke in a great rush, as if he were afraid he would forget something. “His hair was dyed and he had shaved his beard off, but it was him. I’m sure of it. He shot the drone, he has a gun.”

“Of course he has a gun,” Ash said, almost absently. “He’s always armed.”

Steve said, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. J.A.R.V.I.S., please show us the recording Eiji saw.”

They all watched the replay of what the drone had recorded, little though it was. Ash agreed with Eiji that the man who’d shot the drone had been Gregory. Phil contacted the police to have them start looking for Gregory in the area he’d been seen in. They watched the recording replay several times until Max said,

“I don’t see the suitcase. You think he just got rid of it? Maybe it was too much trouble to carry around.”

Ash shook his head. “He’s not that stupid. That suitcase is a golden ticket.”

Natasha didn’t understand the phrase and made a note to ask Clint about it, later.

Ibe-san cleared his throat and looked at Max with his eyebrows drawn together in worry. “You don’t think he’s sold it, do you? There were a lot of people who would buy it.”

Max thought for a moment, but shook his head. “I don’t know. Ash?”

“I doubt it. He’s after me and money won’t help him with that. The suitcase is more valuable to him than money, right now.”

Phil asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to pause the recording and then looked at Ash. “There is something else I wanted to ask you about. Natasha said that when you went to see the bodies of the men who shot at the Chang Dai Restaurant you made a comment about it being ‘sloppy and unprofessional’ to leave bodies laying around. She told me that this was something the people who trained her had taught. Do you know someone who might be involved with all of this?”

“No.” He answered easily, without any hesitation.

Eiji said, “But, Ash, what about...”

Ash narrowed his eyes at Eiji. “I have no idea what they’re talking about. All I meant was that it seemed obviously bad practice to leave evidence behind you when you committed a crime. Doesn’t need any training to know that, it’s common sense.” Ash looked back at the paused image J.A.R.V.I.S. had left the recording on, Gregory holding his gun, aimed at the drone. He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees and rested his chin on his fists. “I need to go.”

“He isn’t likely to still be there,” Steve said. “He knows someone’s looking for him, now, so he must have left the area. Phil only wants the police to go look in case there’s any evidence to be found.”

“Besides my poor drone,” Tony said, sadly. “That one was one of my favorites.”

“I’m not going after Gregory.” Ash stood up and slipped his phone into his pocket. “He’ll show himself sooner or later. I’m going to my condo.”

Elsewhere-

The wind was cold. The people were all strangers.

Scared.

He was so scared.

The driver hadn’t been waiting for him when the appointment was over. The driver was supposed to take him to the appointment and take him home when it was over. Everyone was going to be so mad. He was going to get yelled at.

He walked slowly down the sidewalk with his arms wrapped around himself, trying so hard not to touch anyone, trying not to make anyone angry. He was going to get yelled at because he didn’t go home after the appointment, but without the driver he didn’t know how to get home and he was scared.

So scared.

Cars honks and people talked loudly everywhere around him. He saw a policeman and hurried to get away because talking to the police was a big ‘no-no’ and he’d get in even more trouble if the policeman caught him.

He was so scared. Scared. Scared. He wanted to go home.

To Be Continued....


	23. The Video

Chapter 23: The Video

Phil-

“If you need reading glasses, we could have bought you new ones earlier. You don’t have to do without something essential.” Phil, whose whole job was to take care of people, couldn’t help the concern he felt when Ash had told everyone exactly why he wanted to go back to the condo. Reading glasses. He needed glasses and because of everything that had gone on, he’d left them behind when he’d left the condo and gone to live in The Avengers’ Tower.

“Speak up when you need something,” Max had reprimanded. “You’ll get headaches if you read without your glasses.” And then he left the room, muttering about making an appointment with an eye doctor.

After watching everyone leave the room, Phil sat heavily on the couch and sighed before he said aloud to himself, “Why didn’t he say he needed reading glasses? We’d have gotten him a pair.” It would have been no trouble at all to go get his glasses at the condo or to even buy him a new pair. To think that Ash had kept silent about something so necessary... 

“Ash doesn’t like people doing things for him.” Phil wasn’t as alone as he’d thought. He’d forgotten Ibe-san was in the room. He was a quiet man and, surrounded by such big personalities as The Avengers, Max, Jessica, and Ash, it was disturbingly easy to forget him. “I expect he was more concerned with getting Jessica and Michael to safety than he was about retrieving his glasses.” Ibe-san sat next to Phil on the couch. “Besides, Ash is used to doing without and I think he may believe that his glasses are a luxury he can live without. We were captured by Golzine, once. Max and I were made to sit through a farce of a dinner party. Tuxedos, servants pouring wine, food that was far too costly. He gave Ash an earring, then. An earring that cost more than my house. He’d had Ash dressed in a very fine tuxedo and made him show off that he could tell one wine from another simply by taste. He bragged about everything he’d done for Ash.” Ibe-san gave Phil a sad look. “But he never did something so simple, so easy as getting Ash the glasses he needed. Never even noticed he needed them. Ash told me that. Ash was thirteen when he got enough money and bought a three-dollar pair of glasses at a drugstore. He is accustomed to taking care of himself and I believe he never considered asking for your help because he is still not used to being given help. He also probably considered him being able to read without getting a headache was not so very important as keeping everyone safe.”

“You’re very fond of him, aren’t you?”

“Yes, but I also admire him greatly. He’s been through a lot, but he still smiles so easily.” Ibe-san shrugged, self consciously. “Maybe I don’t understand him so well as I think I do, but I think he is very strong and very independent. Ash is terribly clever. He’s far more clever than most people give him credit for. Everyone seems to underestimate him. He told me that many people think he’s stupid because he’s good-looking. Isn’t that foolish? Max once said that Ash has the brain of a computer, that he thinks of life like a chess game where he keeps several moves ahead of his opponent all the time. He thinks unlike anyone I’ve ever met. Very brave, very determined... almost ruthless. But he is good. Ah, enough of all that. I just wanted to thank you for protecting him." He bowed his head to Phil before he quietly left the room.

From what Ibe-san said, Phil could deduce that underestimating Ash would be a grave mistake. Underestimating anyone was a bad idea. Tony had been underestimated in his youth when the whole world thought he was nothing but a shallow rich kid. Natasha was routinely underestimated, though she cultivated that image as it helped her with her work. And Bruce? The whole world knew what The Hulk looked like, but very few would know Bruce Banner if they stood nose-to-nose with him, so Bruce, who was shy and quiet, was often dismissed as harmless.

***

With heightened security due to the discovery of HYDRA agents in the city - though Phil had hopes that it was mere coincidence and that HYDRA knew nothing about Ash - two people went with Ash to his condo, Phil and Tony. Ash was quiet on the way over, a thoughtful look on his face as Tony drove them to the condo where Phil had first met Ash when he’d gone looking for Jessica hoping that she could lead him to Max.

“I bought it,” Ash had said easily enough when they started climbing the many stairs up to the top floor. “I got my hands on some money and I needed somewhere to hide out. This place was conveniently located.”

“I looked it up,” Tony said as he trudged up the stairs. Tony wasn’t a bit out of shape, but there were quite a lot of stairs to excuse his panting for breath. “That condo is owned by a Mister Edward Winston.”

“Yeah.” Ash didn’t bother to look over his shoulder at Tony as he led the way up. “That was convenient, too.”

“You know what else is convenient?” Tony asked. “Elevators. Elevators are very convenient. Lovely things that go up and down and you only have to press a button to make them work. I happen to know that there are three elevators in this building.”

Ash kept walking. “I don’t like elevators. Sometimes they fall. You want to take one, go ahead.” He jabbed a finger at a door they passed. “There’s the door to floor eighteen. Go ahead and I’ll meet you up there.”

Phil asked, “You have a phobia?” It would be just this kid’s luck to have that on top of all his other issues!

“No, I just don’t like them. Not my fault you old guys are out of shape.”

Ash seemed to have no trouble at all with the stairs, despite his injuries. He didn’t race up the stairs, but he did keep up a steady pace and Phil wondered how much of that was due to the fact that he was healing well and how much was due to the fact that he was stubborn and really wanted his glasses.

Phil told Ash, “We’re not THAT old.”

“Please, you’re like what... thirty-five?” Ash said, as if he couldn’t quite imagine being so ancient. “And you,” he briefly turned to gesture at Tony. “You're old enough to be my grandpa. God, you’ve gotta be like a hundred.”

“I’m fifty-one!” Tony protested.

“Yeah... maybe you should’ve taken the elevator. You’ll probably break a hip if you fall down the stairs.”

Tony pouted, but just as Ash was turning back around, Phil saw the hint of a playful, trouble-making grin. Ash knew exactly what he was doing when he poked at them for being ‘old’ and he’d gotten the reaction he’d wanted. Ash made a move to get his opponent to do what he wanted and it had worked out perfectly for him. He was not only good and clever and strong, as Ibe-san had boasted, but he was manipulative. How dangerous could he be if he ever got ambitious?

Without warning, Tony suddenly asked Ash, “Do you want to come work for me?”

Ash froze in misstep. “What?”

“Look, I know you’re real smart. J.A.R.V.I.S. is even impressed with you, and almost nothing impresses him. You come work for me and I’ll put you in the research and development department. We make just about everything. If you want, I’ll pay for you to go to school.”

As Ash had been leading the way, they all stopped walking when he did. Ash turned around to face them, then took a step backwards until his back was against a wall. His face was cold and closed-off. “No.”

Tony let out an exaggerated sigh. “Ah, well. Easy come, easy go.” He stepped passed Ash and kept walking.

Ash stayed where he was, but looked confused and even a little angry. “That’s it? You’re gonna let it go?”

Tony laughed and turned around to face Ash. “Well, I can’t throw you in chains and force you to...” he stopped when he saw Ash’s face and his care-free expression faded into shock. “Wait. Did you think... you thought I was going to MAKE you work for me? I’m no slaver.”

“Last person who gave me a job offer didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He... hurt me. That moron thought hurting me would make me agree to work for him. People are idiots. Then he pistol whipped me and had me sedated so he could kidnap me. Don’t know what he had planned after that.”

And Ash would say no more, he waited for Tony and Phil to continue up the stairs and it seemed clear to Phil that whatever memories were haunting Ash, had disturbed him so much that he didn’t want anyone at his back. Tony picked up on it, too, for he didn’t make any smart comments, but kept walking.

When they finally reached the top floor and stood in front of the door of Ash’s condo, Ash fished a key out of his pocket. The top floor of the building had only two units, Ash’s and the condo directly across the hall. The two condo’s doors faced each other and, before Ash could unlock his door, the door on the other side of the hall opened and a cheerful voice called out, 

“Christopher, dear. You’re back! I’ve missed you. And where is that charming young man of yours? Eiji?”

The voice was strong and confidant and Phil wasn’t at all surprised to see Mrs. Coleman standing in her doorway when he turned around. She wrinkled her nose at him and he was all too quickly reminded of their first meeting and how very poorly she seemed to think of anyone who upset ‘Christopher, dear’ and she apparently had a very good memory. Phil smiled and went straight to her, holding out his hand. “Mrs. Coleman, wasn’t it? My name’s Phil Coulson. I’m sorry we didn’t have time to talk the last time I was here.”

Mrs. Coleman wasn’t so easily swayed. She eyed his hand and wrapped her hands around the head of her walking stick. She drew herself up to her full height and managed to look down at Phil even though he was a solid six inches taller than she was. She examined him for a minute, then stepped around him and gave Ash a warm smile. “Dear, it really is good to see you, again. I hope you and your family are all well.”

“Very well, thank you. I’m sorry we all left so quickly. Family stuff... I’m sure you know.”

“Oh, I do, my dear. I really do. Now, you didn’t answer me - how is that sweet Eiji? I hope you haven’t chased him away for some other,” she gave both Phil and Tony sharply disapproving looks from the corner of her eye. “Friends. Really, you ought to stick with someone closer to your own age. Old foggies like that won’t be any fun for a young person. Now that Eiji, he was much better for you. Trust me, I can tell.” And she reached up and pinched Ash’s cheek.

Ash laughed and it was a sound that was surprisingly innocent. “No, no. I promise, Eiji is still my best friend. You remember this guy?” He pointed at Phil. “Well, turns out he’s a friend of my dad. Small world, isn’t it? He invited us to stay at his place, so we’re having a little vacation.”

And, with that little simplification - not a bit of it was a lie - Mrs. Coleman’s frosty attitude thawed, but only a little. “Well, if everything’s quite alright, then I won’t worry. Don’t stay gone too long, Christopher, dear.”

The minute Phil followed Ash into the condo and closed the door behind them, he said, “I think she wants to adopt you.”

“Shut up. She’s nice.”

“And I suppose the fact that she likes Eiji only cements your good opinion of your protective neighbor.” Tony almost immediately began poking around in the condo, looking in every little nook and cranny he could find.

“The fact that she likes Eiji means she’s smart. Anyone worth anything likes Eiji.”

Ash-

Ash liked Mrs. Coleman. He had never known either of his grandmothers, but he sometimes imagined that if he had a grandmother, she would probably have been just like Mrs. Coleman. He also liked to imagine that she had some kind of illicit past - like being a prize fighter in her youth or a bouncer in a biker bar. She was tough enough for anything.

But those were silly thoughts and did no good. Ash had work to do.

He picked up his reading glasses that he’d left on the coffee table and slipped them on while he went into the bedroom. There was only one bedroom in the condo. For how much it cost, it should have had a couple of bedrooms and Ash had never understood why the place had been designed to be so impractical. The living room was ridiculously big, it could have easily been divided up into a couple more rooms. He didn’t dwell on it long. The bedroom had been used by him and Eiji and, later, by Jessica and Michael. The computer sitting on the desk by the window hadn’t moved since he’d been forced to leave the condo. There wasn’t any dust on it. Jessica must have dusted. 

Ash sat the desk and he remembered Eiji sitting in that spot as he looked through the photographs he’d taken of the building next door where Dino had done much of his work and entertained his less than respectable business associates. Ash had poked fun at Eiji and Eiji had had sniped back. They’d laughed.

“So, did you get what you need?” Tony asked. He glanced around the room, but didn’t go in. “I thought you just wanted your glasses.”

“Yeah, well, now I need my computer.” Ash opened his laptop and was keenly aware of Tony in the doorway, though he didn’t presume to just walk in and Ash appreciated that. Ash turned his computer on. “There’s a t.v. in the other room. Feel free. Just don’t hover over my shoulder. I gotta check my email.”

“J.A.R.V.I.S. could have done that for you. He’s pretty good at that kind of thing.”

“Yeah, well. I didn’t think of it till I was here. Go on and sit down. I won’t take too long.” Ash heard footsteps when Tony walked away and glanced discretely over his shoulder. Through the open door, he could see Phil and Tony in the living room and decided that it was safe for him to get on with his real reason for going to the condo.

He had wanted his glasses - they were his, after all - but he had a far more important reason for going to the condo. His computer was there and it was easier to work on a laptop where he could type properly rather than his little phone. While he could have asked to use a computer at the Tower, he hadn’t wanted J.A.R.V.I.S. looking over his shoulder. After all, there was no reason to involve The Avengers with what he was planning to do to Sing’s attacker. The most important reason for going to the condo, though, was that it was nearly impossible to slip out of the Tower without every Avenger being alerted and Ash needed to get away from all of them for a while. Getting away from two guards would surely be easier than escaping J.A.R.V.I.S.’ ever watchful observation. 

Ash wasted no more time. It took only minutes from him to get on the website of the bank he’d put all his stolen money into and then into the account he’d set up for Sing. He’d put in twenty million dollars for Sing to spread out to his gang and it was all gone. It took a little work here and there before Ash was able to discover that the money had been withdrawn using a cellphone. He slipped this way and that inside the internet and found the name of the person who owned the phone.

Ash had once read a very interesting book in the library about how the internet worked. Such a useful book. That book was the reason why Ash was able to figure out how to navigate his way around the internet and into different systems. Turns out that the internet was much like a library, in Ash’s mind. Everything was there, ready to be looked at and put to use, if one knew how to navigate it and Ash knew very well how to navigate through the internet. He also could hack, which was nothing more than having a skeleton key for locked doors, as far as Ash was concerned. So he used those skills he had to go this way and that until he found the cellphone that had been used to take Sing’s money and, from there, he got into the cellphone. After all, if one could use a cellphone to get on the internet, then it would stand to reason that one could use the internet to get onto a cellphone. It wasn’t all that difficult. He found that his target cellphone had a GPS installed. How handy. After that, it took very little work for him to use the phone’s GPS to track where the cellphone was.

Ash smiled when he found it. Whoever carried the cellphone was still in the city, only a few blocks away. He made sure all the information was on his cellphone and that he could see the location of his target’s phone before he cleared the history on his computer and turned it off.

He looked at the image of a map of New York City on the screen of his phone and watched a tiny dot indicating the target’s phone moving slowly down a street. Really, he ought to give the information to Yut-Lung. The fact was that it was a Boss’ responsibility to take care of such things. If anyone had beaten Bones or Alex like they had Sing, stab wound or not, Ash would have killed them. It was what any good Boss would do. If Shorter had still been alive, Ash wouldn’t have hesitated to give him the information and let him do his job. But Shorter was dead and Sing was the current head of the gang. Custom would have it that Sing’s second-in-command should do the duty of avenging Sing, just as Alex would have done if Ash hadn’t killed Lao. But Ash didn’t know who Sing’s second-in-command was. So the only other person in Chinatown with any authority in the matter was Yut-Lung. But Ash didn’t want to give up the responsibility. After all, Sing was practically Shorter’s little brother and as Shorter’s best friend, it was surely Ash’s place to stand up for Sing.

A very short time later, Ash, Phil, and Tony all started the long walk back down the many stairs so they could go back to the Tower. Again, Ash walked behind Phil and Tony. Ash quietly took out his cellphone and texted a message to Alex, **I need a distraction.** He told Alex where he was and which way he was headed with his chaperons. 

A moment later, Alex replied with a text that read, **On the way. Trouble?**

**Annoyance. Don’t hurt them. Just give me a minute to slip away.**

**Got it.**

Ash ran a hand over his head and winced at the feel of his newly short hair being rubbed rather than having his fingers run through his longer hair. Such an odd feeling, like little bristles on the top of his head. He didn’t regret having Max cut his hair. It was different and it was his. His choice. If he wanted it to grow longer, then that would be his choice, too. A stray thought drifted through his mind of Eiji’s admiration of Thor. He had once seen a photograph of Thor in a newspaper with an article about The Avengers. Thor had blonde hair, too. Long blonde hair. ‘Does Eiji like long hair? Is that it?’

The very minute they reached the sidewalk, Ash saw three of his guys walking towards him. Well... running, really. Bones was in the lead and yelling at the top of his lungs. Ash’s eye twitched. If he broke another bone...

“Get away from me!” Bones yelled. “I didn’t touch your girl!”

Alex yelled back, “That ain’t what she said! Get back here!”

They ran around Ash’s chaperones several times while Kong added to the mischief by pretending he was trying to catch both Bones and Alex. 

It was a grand little play and the moment when Phil and Tony tried to stop them before someone got hurt (as Ash had guessed they would) Ash slipped away. Three steps back and a little to the left and he was in an alley. He stepped quickly down the alley until he came to a door in the wall. It was unlocked, of course. The owner of the Rubber Ducky Laundromat never remembered to lock the back door. He slipped in and closed the door behind him. From there he went to the office, which was empty and so also never locked. In the office was a stairway that led to the roof. Ash went up to the roof and waited. It was impossible to hear anything over the noise of the traffic, but he waited until he saw, as he’d known he would see, Tony, as Iron Man fly by, undoubtedly looking for Ash.

Iron man flew around the area for a minute and, while he did, Ash kept himself hidden, only peering out of the door that led out to the rooftop. When Iron man flew away, undoubtedly to look in other places, Ash peeked out over the edge of the building and didn’t see any sign of Phil below. He went back down to the street and hurried on his way. Of course, he was reasonably certain they’d already contacted the rest of their team and told them about Ash’s escape and he did regret that he was making work for them and he was almost positive that Jessica was going to have kittens, but there was work to be done and he wasn’t about to get other people involved. Why, they’d probably try to stop him from killing and...

“Hey, Boss!” 

Ash turned and saw his guys walking towards him, looking as proud as all get out. 

“Was that what you wanted? Didn’t no one get hurt.” Bones grinned as he said it.

“Yeah, you did good. Look, any word about something going on I should know about?” He asked Alex directly, as that was Alex’s job to know such things, but he was aware that Bones and Kong would speak up if they felt they needed to. None of them were shy with Ash.

Alex shrugged. “Not much. I know there’s people acting weird all over the city. They’re just wandering aimlessly around. Everyone’s seen them. They’ve even been down in Harlem and Cain isn’t really happy about it. No one knows what they’re looking for, but they’re all over the place and looking for something.”

“They don’t do anything?”

“Nope. They just sort of walk around. They don’t go into stores and none of them seem to be going to work. I had some of the guys follow a couple of them the other day and they just walked around the city for about ten hours before they went to a hotel. They next day, they did the same thing.”

It was another something to keep in mind. “Well, keep your eye on them and don’t let them know you’ve noticed them. Don’t start trouble.”

Alex nodded. “You need us for anything else?”

Ash felt a twinge of pain in his side where Lao had stabbed him. The wound was healing, but it wasn’t altogether healed. Walking up all those stairs probably hadn’t helped anything. At least the one Foxx had given him was mostly healed. He did want the help, but it was his responsibility to take care of the situation, not theirs. So he carelessly waved away the question. “No. I just needed a little breathing room. You guys go on.”

Kong and Bones did as they were told, but Alex hesitated. When Bones and Kong had gone a distance, he said to Ash, “Look, you sure you’re okay in that place? Super heroes ‘n stuff? I mean... I know they’re not making you stay, but if you gotta sneak away...”

“They’re like a whole bunch of mama bears, that’s all. They’re alright. Don’t worry about me. Don’t I always take care of myself?”

“Yeah. Sure you do, Boss. Boss, about that court thing you’re doing...”

Ash went cold. He’d never really told his guys much of what he’d done when Dino had held his leash, but Alex wasn’t a dummy. He’d guessed some stuff. Probably most of the other guys had suspicions, too, but no one had ever said anything right to his face. Soon enough, as soon as the legal stuff started, they’d all know everything and Ash wasn’t looking forward to seeing the looks on their faces. “What about it?”

“You want me to say anything for you? I don’t know how that stuff goes, but... they do character witnesses ‘n stuff on t.v. shows.”

“I wouldn’t drag you into that.”

“I know you wouldn’t, but if you’re gonna get yourself in trouble with talking about Dino, then I’ll stick up for you. They might make you talk about stuff Dino made you do - delivering things and all the other stuff. It’s not really legal - what Dino had us doing. If you gotta say all that in front of cops ‘n judges... won’t they put you in jail, too? I’ll tell ‘em what Dino was like. They’ll know you couldn’t have done no different.”

Ash was honestly touched. Alex didn’t know, not really. He knew Dino was bad news and he’d never liked being around Dino - something Ash had tried to avoid making any of his guys do - and he knew a lot of the bad stuff Dino would do to people who angered him, but he didn’t know the details of what Ash had been made to do. Still, he was willing to put himself out to help Ash. “Thanks, man. I’ll let you know if I need you.”

They parted ways and Ash was, again, glad that Dino was dead because Alex was safer with Dino that way. Alex was a little too close to Dino’s taste. He was only saved by the fact that he was much bigger and taller than Ash and had sort of a blunt look to his face rather than the delicate look Dino favored. Still, blonde hair and blue eyes was too close for comfort. He hadn’t even liked the rare times when he’d had to take Alex to Dino’s mansion for business reasons and he’d always worked hard to find an excuse to leave Alex in the parlor rather than taking him to stand in front of Dino in the office. No point in making the guy a target.

Getting back to his mission, Ash checked on his phone to see where his target was before he started walking. He had gone only a few steps down the sidewalk when he heard his name, “Ash!” He stopped and turned and there was Nadia, running towards him. She was so out of breath when she reached him, that Ash put his hands on her arms to steady her. She shook and heaved for breath so badly that she couldn’t speak, at first. After a moment, she straighten up and looked at him with wide eyes. “Ash, you’re staying with those Avengers, aren’t you? The rumors said you were and you came to see Sing with Captain America. That was him, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. Sure was. What- ”

“I need to speak with them. Right now. It’s very important. Please.”

“O-okay. Sure. What’s going on? You’re scared.” And he didn’t like that. Not one bit.

Nadia held out a cellphone to him. “It’s Sing’s. He had it when I found him. I didn’t think! I just stuck it in my pocket, but I was so upset about Sing being hurt that I forgot it was there. I remembered ages after Mister Lee mentioned Sing’s phone was missing, but Sing’s still hurt and he won’t wake up I was just so worried. A phone just didn’t seem that important.”

Worry would make a person’s whole world narrow down to the person they were worried about and nothing else mattered, Ash knew. He didn’t blame her a bit for dismissing the phone.

Nadia kept talking and Ash was a little shocked. She’d never spoken so much or so quickly. “But this morning, I thought maybe Charlie should have it. Maybe it’s evidence? I can’t imagine what good it would do, but maybe it would help. I checked Sing’s phone to see if it was working and I saw that he’d recorded something. There was... on it... Oh! Just look!” Nadia turned the phone on and hit a few buttons and a short video played. It only lasted a few minutes and Sing had obviously started recording in the middle of a conversation.

Ash didn’t recognize the men shown on the screen of Sing’s phone, but he took note of each face he saw and each voice he heard.

One of the men Sing had recorded said, “Of course not, but it’s an easy mistake to make. Don’t worry about it. This city has enough murders, one more isn’t going to catch anyone’s attention. Have you had word from the other teams? Someone must have found him, by now. How hard can it be to kill one man?”

“I haven’t heard anything yet, but we’ll meet up at the rendezvous point and compare notes. And don’t dismiss Blanca like that. I’ve heard things about him. They call him, ‘a perfect weapon created by the Kremlin’. Unstoppable and merciless. He’d as soon kill a person as look at them. A completely heartless monster in the form of a man. But he’s smart, too. He’s a doctor, a psychiatrist, and holds degrees in subjects ranging from ancient history to astronomy. He’s also charismatic. One smile and he has anyone he wants falling over themselves to get in his bed.”

“No one’s that good.”

“He is. That’s the rumor, anyway. What I’m getting at is - don’t think he’s like any other man. He isn’t. He doesn’t have feelings like normal people and he doesn’t think like us, either. He’s a weapon - nothing more.”

“You sound scared of him.”

“That’s because I’m not stupid.”

“We’re HYRDA soldiers. A single man, no matter how well-trained, isn’t a match for the fifty soldiers sent out to find and eliminate him. Thema Shehata wants Blanca dead, so we kill him. His reputation is probably nothing but lies he told about himself in order to make himself more intimidating. I’m not falling for any such thing.”

Something happened then, and Sing dropped the phone. From where it landed, Ash could see Sing, both of his hands held over his head by a much larger man.

“And looks like I found a little alley cat.” The man who held Sing’s hands grinned down at him. That made for three men - three HYDRA agents. “And what are you doing prowling around here? Poor little thing, you’re going to get hurt creeping around in the dark.”

Sing sucked in a deep breath, most likely to whistle for his guys, but one of the first two men Ash had seen on the video slapped a hand over Sing’s mouth.

“No noise, alley cat. We wouldn’t want a commotion.”

What followed next was a furious struggle as Sing fought to get free, but as strong and smart as Sing was, he was also a little shrimp compared to three grown men. The struggle ended when one of the men punched Sing in the side of the head. Sing went down like a ton of bricks. One of the men knocked over a garbage can and from the rubbish that spilled out onto the ground, he picked up a broken broom handle. With that in hand, he looked down at Sing and said, “I don’t think I’ll waste a bullet on you.”

The man raised the broom handle over his head with both hands before he brought it down. Ash didn’t flinch when he heard the stick strike flesh. He didn’t blink or look away when he heard Sing yell. He kept watching as, over and over, the man hit Sing. 

Nadia started to cry.

On the recording, Sing started to cry. He cried for Shorter, then for Lao.

And Ash watch. He watched every minute. He even watched as Sing managed to reach out a hand and grab the phone. His attackers either didn’t notice or didn’t care. The screen of the phone went dark when Sing grabbed it, but Ash could hear everything. The attackers laughed and talked with each other and the sound of Sing’s cries began to die away. He’d likely pulled his phone under himself, curled up around it to protect it.

‘Sing, you clever kid. You knew you had evidence and you weren’t going to let them get away with anything. Oh, you brilliant kid!’

Soon, it was over. Ash couldn’t heard anything from Sing. He must have passed out. Ash listened to the attackers’ voices for a few seconds.

“Got anything in his pockets?” One of them asked. “Might as well take what we can.”

There was a noise as Sing was undoubtedly moved this way and that as his pockets were searched.

“Not much in his wallet. Chump change. A paper, though. Well... would you look at that? On bank stationary and everything!” The voice sounded very pleased and Ash knew why. He knew what they’d found. “It’s an account number and a password. Who knows? Maybe the kid’s loaded.” It was them who’d taken the number of Sing’s bank account and the password.

The video stopped then.

Ash watched the video a second time and then a third. HYDRA soldiers, dressed like civilians, were looking for Blanca and they were planning to kill him. Why? Sing just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and he’d gotten caught. They hadn’t known him when they’d tried to kill him.

Ash’s mouth pressed into a fine line. 

They hadn’t even known who Sing was. He could have been any kid walking by and they’d have done the same thing. They’d have tried to beat any passer-by, any innocent person, to death just because he was there and they were stronger. No reason. No aim or design. It was just an opportunity. What if they’d happened up someone who couldn’t fight as well as Sing? He watched the video one last time, then turned the phone off.

Nadia watched him, expectantly. “You see? The Avengers should know. It was HYRDA and I don’t know... I was just going to the police station to give it to Charlie when I saw you. The Avengers usually deal with HYDRA so maybe they should have it?”

Ash slipped the phone into his pocket. “I’ll take care of everything. Don’t you worry.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to give you more trouble.”

“You’re never trouble. Go on. I know you want to be with Sing.”

She hesitated. “I’m not neglecting you, am I? You know if you need me...”

Ash understood, of course, that Nadia wanted to be with Sing when he was so hurt. God, he couldn’t imagine what was going through her mind. Was she thinking of Shorter and how she hadn’t been there in his last moments? Or that if Sing died it would be one more part of her family gone forever. So Ash smirked. “Please, like I need one more mother hen nagging at me. Go on. Go hold his hand so I tease him when he wakes up. I’ll let you know when I know something.”

Nadia left and Ash went into a nearby alley where he sat on the lid of garbage can to have a think.

Ash didn’t like killing, he didn’t even like hurting people, but there were times when it was necessary. Those men were planning to kill Blanca, who’d always been so good to Ash. Blanca was easily one of the most brilliant people Ash knew, but he wasn't perfect and could be killed just like anyone else. Sing had nearly been killed. Ash was certain that the attackers had meant to kill Sing and it was only by chance that he’d survived. A nameless man was dead. And the men Sing had caught on camera had mentioned Thema Shehata. Ash knew that name very well.

Ash played the video, again.

To Be Continued...


	24. The Best Laid Plans...

Chapter 24: The Best Laid Plans...

Tony-

Leaving the condo, Tony felt like garbage. He wasn’t quite sure how he’d given the impression that he would - somehow - force Ash to work for him, but he had. He’d caused Ash to think that he would find a way to force Ash to work for him, and that had brought up more bad memories for Ash. Tony didn’t like that someone would think of him in such a way. And he’d been trying to be nice to Ash, given what Tony knew and what he hadn’t done when he’d met Ash years earlier, so it hurt to know that he’d failed and that Ash thought he was that kind of person.

Tony and Phil walked next to each other and Tony hadn’t even really noticed when Ash fell a step behind them. He wasn’t an especially good guard, the way he saw it. Clint or Steve would have been much better suited to the task, but Tony didn’t complain as they walked all the way down those many, many stairs. His knees were going to hurt, later.

‘I really am getting old,’ Tony thought. ‘Ash joked about it, but some days I can feel my age. Wonder if the others know how young they look to me?’ It didn’t escape Tony’s notice that Steve and Natasha were young enough to be his children and Clint and Phil weren’t all that much older. Only Bruce was near Tony’s age. Maybe that was why he got on so well with Bruce. He and Bruce were so vastly different in just about every area, but at least Tony felt like he was talking to a grown-up when he was talking to Bruce. That and Bruce understood him when Tony started talking about some new science topic that had seized his attention when all the others would look at him like he had three heads. He knew they didn’t mean it because they were his friends and they weren’t a bit malicious, but there were times when Tony felt like a freak in his own home... not that he would ever say that out loud.

Once they reached the sidewalk outside, they had only gone about a block from the condo when a shout from in front of them drew Tony’s attention and he saw, running towards them, Ash’s friends. Or lackeys. Henchmen? Henchboys? Shouldn’t they be in school?

The three boys ran right up to Tony and Phil and began to literary run circles around them while, at the same time, paying them no attention at all. They were quick and darted in and around Tony and Phil, yelling at each other - something about a girlfriend and “I didn’t do it!” and “She said you did!” - and the third boy, bigger than a lot of grown men Tony knew, swung his arms this way and that as he seemed to be trying to grab his friends, but never actually did anything but get in Tony and Phil’s way. Neither Tony nor Phil were especially big or threatening men, so everything they said to try and stop the boys was entirely ignored. Phil made an attempt to calm them down and talk to them, but Tony and Phil might as well have been a couple of trees for all the three boys cared about what they said. Of course, Phil, Tony knew, had been a soldier and a very good fighter. He could have stopped all three of the boys at any time, but the idea of fighting children - no matter how big Kong was - would have repulsed Phil, especially as the boys were doing nothing more than running around and yelling, they didn’t even bump into Tony or Phil.

Twenty seconds later, they ran off, still yelling at each other. 

Tony and Phil watched until the boys slipped around a corner. 

“What was that?” Tony asked. “I know those boys. When I went with Bruce and Ash to help out one of Ash’s friends, those were the kids. The little guy with the cast on his arm is Bones, the guy chasing him was called Alex and...”

“And the big kid was named Kong. Yes, I met them when I first met Ash. He was very unhappy to find me trying to meet Ms. Randy and, after he escorted me outside, send Bones and Kong to get Max. Alex was with them when they brought Max back, though I didn’t hear his name at the time.” Phil looked all around and sighed. “To answer your question - that, my friend, was a masterly escape.”

“What?”

Phil rubbed his temples. “Ash is gone.” He tapped the communicator that fairly lived in his ear. “J.A.R.V.I.S., I need to talk to the team. We have a problem.”

Elsewhere-  
Ash- 

Ash still sat in the alley. The alley was, as so many were, filthy. Though it hadn’t rained in weeks, the ground was wet and everything smelled damp. Garbage cans and one dumpster were overflowing with trash. The pavement was cracked and broken in places. Here and there were bits of litter scattered around - empty food wrappers, cigarette butts, a single shoe without its laces.

He needed a plan and stared at his knees as he tried to think. It was hard to concentrate. He was angry, almost consumed by anger. Bad enough that he’d seen Sing in the hospital, but that video had been bad. Actually seeing the attack and listening to Sing cry and not being able to do a thing about it... his anger flared and burned. He needed to calm down. He needed to think. To be sensible and steady. Unfortunately, his anger kept burning. The thought of Blanca being hunted by such a powerful organization as HYDRA... the sound of Sing crying... it was like throwing gasoline on a bonfire.

“You have a dreadful temper,” Blanca had once told Ash, back so long ago when Ash had still been small and scared and weak. “You must control it. Anger will do nothing but cloud your mind and make you act on impulse rather than on logic.” He used his handkerchief - a real cloth handkerchief rather than a tissue - to wipe a bit of blood from the corner of Ash’s mouth.

He’d been right, Ash had been forced to admit. His temper was awful, always had been, and he had such a hard time controlling it.

Ash felt the vibration of his phone ringing in his pocket and answered it with, “Yeah?”

“Where the Hell are you?!” 

Ash flinched at the shout in his ear. “Turn down the volume, old woman.”

“Don’t you pull that with me, Brat! Phil just contacted everyone here and he said you vanished and no one knows where you are! Where are you? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. I just needed to take a walk. I’m starting to feel smothered.”

Jessica was quiet for a minute. “A walk? You wanted to take a walk?! You can’t just... leave. Max is beside himself. Just about everyone went out to look for you before we could remind them that you have a phone. Come back.”

“I will. I’ll be back soon.” It was so weird. He’d never had to be concerned about telling people where he was going or what he was doing. It made him feel bad to know he’d worried them. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright, Brat. Just... be safe. I’ll try to contact The Avengers and let them know you’re alright, but don’t be surprised if they keep looking for you. Be safe.”

“Yeah. I will. Hey, can I talk to Eiji?”

She made a sound as if she were repressing a laugh. “Sure. Hold on.”

“Ash?”

Eiji’s voice was tight with worry, but Ash felt nothing except a wave of calm. He smiled. “I’m here.”

“Are you alright?”

“Sure I am. I just...” Ash thought of what he’d seen on Sing’s phone. HYDRA. The casual beating of an innocent kid. He didn’t want anyone involved who didn’t have to be and, even though he knew that he really ought to tell Phil and his Avengers what was going on, he didn’t even want them involved. This was his responsibility, after all. “I just wanted to talk. You doing okay?”

“Yes, but Phil said Kong and Bones and Alex were there. They distracted him and Mister Stark and you left. Ash, what is happening? Are you in trouble? Jessica’s right - everyone is really worried.”

Ash didn’t feel bad about the distraction. If super-powered heroes were going to be distracted by a few teenagers fooling around, then they deserved to be fooled. “Don’t worry about me.”

“I always worry about you.”

“Well, I’ve just got work to do. Trust me?”

“Of course.” And how Eiji said that without hesitation warmed Ash’s heart. “Can I help you?”

Having Eiji getting involved with HYDRA? No. “You’re still hurt. Just take it easy.”

“You’re hurt, too.”

Ash put a hand to the stab wound Lao had given him. It still hurt. “I’m fine. I’ll be careful.” He fell silent for a moment. “I don’t really have anything to say. I just wanted to talk to you.”

Eiji laughed. “You sap.”

“Aw, shut up!”

Ash hung up and stared at his phone with a scowl. He felt... bad. Guilty. Guilty for making people worry? Weird.

No time for weird. He had stuff to do. Ash dialed a familiar number on his phone. Blanca had a habit of changing his cellphone very often, every few weeks, and used burner phones where there was no contract required as he intensely disliked having a paper-trail. Despite the frequent changes, he made sure to give Ash his phone number, just in case, and had given Ash the number of his newest phone when they’d sat together on the park bench after the whole mess with Banana Fish had been done, but before all the legal stuff had begun.

“In case you need to talk,” Blanca had said. “I will always listen.”

Blanca had been good at listening. A passing notion suggested that Ash should tell Max he wanted Blanca to be his therapist as Max was so set on Ash having one. He chuckled at the idea. Max wasn’t likely to agree to that.

Ash listened to the phone ring a half-a-dozen times before it was answered.

“What is it?”

Ash scowled at the familiar voice. “What the Hell are you doing with Blanca’s phone?”

“You’re as vulgar as ever!” The aggravated huff was clearly audible over the phone and Yut-Lung said, “What are you doing calling Blanca’s phone?”

“I wanna talk to him. How did you get his phone?”

“Oh, ho! Look who’s out of the loop? Blanca’s staying at my house. He trusts me entirely so he came here to rest in peace and safety. And he didn’t even bother to tell you where he was staying?”

“Can you get more irritating? Look, just put Blanca on, will ya?”

“No. I don’t think I will. He’s napping.”

For a very long time, Ash sat and stared at the wall on the other side of the alley. Napping? Blanca was napping? Blanca didn’t nap. Ash wasn’t entirely sure he even slept. He opened his mouth to ask why, exactly, Blanca was napping in the middle of the day, but Yut-Lung didn’t give him time.

“And I’d like to know just what happened to him. I mean - first Sing gets brutalized and then Blanca shows up on my doorstep with a concussion, burned clothes, and I think he may lose a finger. What is going on? He didn’t tell me a thing, only that he’d made a little mistake. I mean, what is that supposed to mean?!” And Yut-Lung continued in that vein for long enough that Ash took the phone away from his ear and stared at it in disbelief for a moment. When he put the phone back to his ear, Yut-Lung was still talking. “I know you’re not going to understand this, barbarian that you are, but this is all very distressing. And I still haven’t had a single word back from anyone about what happened to Sing and he always boasted that his information network was top-notch, well, I just don’t see it working now. And Blanca? What kind of trouble did he get into that he caught fire? And he just smiles and tells me not to worry - like I’m a little child!”

“Do you never shut up? Look, just put him on the phone. I gotta talk to him. It’s important.”

He could almost see Yut-Lung’s eyes narrow. “Now, look here, you...” Yut-Lung paused and Ash heard his voice change, a little, as he clearly spoke with someone else. “No. It’s only Ash. You’re hurt, you shouldn’t... but... oh, fine!”

A moment later, a familiar voice said, “Hello, Kitten. How can I help you?”

“How’d you catch fire?”

“Oh, you worried about me. What a compassionate boy you are. Don’t worry. I merely had an instant of distraction.”

“You don’t get distracted.”

“I am human. Of course I can get distracted.”

“Who do you think you’re talking to? You took me on one of your jobs, remember? If a motorcycle roaring by three feet away from your head won’t make you flinch and you don’t blink when a bomb goes off, then you don’t get distracted. What happened?”

Ash listened patiently when Blanca spoke about being found in an apartment building while he’d been in the middle of a new mission. He had been distracted, he’d said, by the most beautiful woman in the world. And then he’d been shot before he blew up the building. 

Ash groaned. “Some woman almost made you get yourself killed? Damn it, I know you like the ladies, but you’ve lost it.”

“No. No, I have not lost my mind. She truly is the most beautiful woman to ever walk this Earth.” He sighed with something that sounded like bliss. “She was smiling. Tell me, are you well?”

“That’s not what we’re talking about. Look, I called you to...”

“I’m serious, my Kitten. It wasn’t so long ago that I watched as you began to waste away because you couldn’t eat. Are you recovered? Are you eating well?”

“Will you just listen? Look, Sing got a beating and when it happened, he recorded something on his cell phone. I just saw it. The people who got him were HYDRA. I heard it right out of their mouths. And they’re looking for you. You gotta be careful.”

“HYDRA? Goodness. That is interesting. I’m rather flattered that they think so highly of me that they feel the need to send out multiple agents.”

“Fifty, Blanca. Fifty HYDRA soldiers are trying to kill you.” Ash was ready to pull his hair out. “Will you take this seriously? I’m not messing around. And one of my guys said there’s a lot of people been seen around the city who are just aimlessly wandering around. He’s had some of them followed and they are literally doing nothing but walking around. I think they must be the people looking for you. Look, what’s your condition? Really?”

Blanca was quiet for a moment, as if he were taking a moment to go through his mental checklist about his physical capability and Ash, who was vain enough to think he knew Blanca better than anyone else alive, was certain that was exactly what he was doing because Blanca was nothing if not thorough. “I am fit. I have a mild concussion, but nothing worth worrying about. Mild first degree burns from the heat of the explosion. A few abrasions from when I hit the pavement outside the building.”

“Yut-Lung said there’s something wrong with your finger? You might lose it?”

“He is merely worrying too much. The finger is only broken a little. A bit of the bone poked through the skin, that is all. It’s not even my trigger finger. I assure you, I am in perfectly adequate condition.”

Ash rubbed his forehead with his free hand. “Right. Right. Well, you’re at Yut-Lung’s place, aren’t you? If you trust him, you might want to stay there while you recover. If you have to leave, then... just be careful. One of the men on Sing’s phone mentioned Thema Shehata was the one who wants you dead.”

“Well, isn’t that interesting? Thema Shehata... that name seems to be popping up, lately. She called Mister Yut-Lung’s home the other day, hoping to speak with Lee Wang-Lung. I am very curious.”

“I’m gonna take a stab in the dark and say the explosion you set off is the same one I saw the other day. The Avengers were there. They pulled five HYDRA agents out of the fire. Did they say anything to you?”

“They wanted my rings.”

Ash frowned. He knew what Blanca was talking about because Blanca only had two rings, the two he wore on a chain around his neck. Ash had seen them once. “Why?” But the minute he said it he had to roll his eyes at himself. “They want proof they killed you. Why? If she figured out I’m the witness, it’s possible that she might think killing my teacher would draw me out and make me an easier target. Dino never told anyone he hired you to teach me, though. She shouldn’t have known.”

There was a sudden roar of an engine overhead and Ash looked up to see Iron Man fly across the sky, again. He got off the lid of the trash can and moved into the slightly more sheltered area of a back door to a business.

Ash said, “The Avengers should know about HYDRA being around and attacking little kids like Sing, but I don’t want to give them Sing’s cellphone ‘cause they said your name in that video. They even called you ‘the perfect weapon created by the Kremlin’. I won’t lead them to you. There were already questions that I had to bluff my way through ”

“No. Go ahead and give them the video. Merely having my name on it won’t make any difference. Besides, you know very well that ‘Blanca’ is only a code name.”

“What is your real name?”

“Which one? The alias I use while I am in America? The name my trainers gave me when they acquired me? The name I was born with? I have many, many names and I promise you that none of those names can be linked to anything illegal. I am very careful. It’s not all that important. Now, you give that video to whomever you need to.” He paused. “Do I need to warn you that Gregory is alive and well and very unhappy?”

“No. I figured that out on my own. I just saw him and he’s got Doctor Mannerheim’s metal suitcase with the Banana Fish in it.”

“Really? And where did you see him?”

Ash opened his mouth to answer, then stopped himself. He suspiciously asked, “Are you hunting Gregory? Is that how you got hurt?”

“... Maybe.”

“Damn it, Blanca! I don’t need you to fight my battles!”

“There you go getting upset, again. I want you to be able to relax and make a good recovery. You deserve it. You deserve to be happy. I’m going to deal with Gregory.”

“No! You’ll get yourself killed. I’ve got this. Really.”

Blanca laughed, softly. “My earnest Kitten. You’re going to have such a happy life. I know you will.” He yawned. “I’m going to do everything I can to ensure that. You’ll be happy and safe and,” he yawned, again. “I don’t want anyone to hurt you.”

Ash rubbed his forehead. “I think that concussion is worse than you think. Give the phone back to Yut-Lung and get some rest.” He waited a moment. “Blanca? You hear me?”

“He’s asleep,” Yut-Lung answered. “And he’s smiling. It’s creepy. What did you say to him?”

“Look, one of Dino’s guys - Gregory Dufort - is on the loose. Your guys see him, tell them to keep away from him. He has the Banana Fish. Sing told me about it, so I’m guessing he told you, too. There’s also people hunting Blanca.”

“Yes.” In that one word, Yut-Lung’s tone had entirely changed. There wasn’t a hint of the ‘whining kid’ in his voice; it had been replaced by the ‘amoral viper’. “He told me about the men who’d challenged him. Really, they should have just shot him in the back when he wasn’t paying attention. That’s what I would have done.”

Ash nodded. “Yeah. They might be dumb, but they’re from HYDRA, so don’t underestimate them. It was HYDRA soldiers who hurt Sing. Try to keep Blanca at your place until he’s healed or he’s gonna get himself killed. I’ll get The Avengers on HYDRA as soon as I can.” He did NOT like leaving Blanca in Yut-Lung’s care. Not one little bit. But he had his own hunting to do and, as much as he hated to admit it, Yut-Lung did seem to have some sort of decency when it came to Blanca and Sing.

“They hurt Sing? That wasn’t very nice of them.” He nearly hissed the words. “Have a nice day.” And he hung up.

Ash cursed and hoped Yut-Lung didn’t get any of his people killed going after HYDRA. Still, Chinatown’s tong and the gang were pretty dangerous themselves and there were a lot more of them left after the battle than there were of Ash’s currently tiny gang. Maybe they’d be alright.

He checked the whereabouts of his targets on his phone and saw that they hadn’t moved, according to the GPS. He took a moment to check himself and was pleased that his anger had settled, though he wasn’t sure if that was due to talking to Jessica, Eiji, Blanca, or arguing with Yut-Lung, but his mind felt clearer and ready to make the final touches of his plan.

***

Less than fifteen minutes later, his cellphone led Ash to a small cafe where three men sat at one of several small tables set outside for customers to eat at, like those fancy little places in Paris. He took a moment to study their faces. It was them - the men who’d tried to kill Sing and were planning to kill Blanca. They sat leisurely, drinking coffee and laughing... one of them nibbled on a croissant. They were comfortable and at ease and Ash was at once furious because they didn’t care that they’d nearly killed Sing and pleased because they clearly weren’t expecting any kind of danger.

He took a deep breath and ran though his plan, again. Then he took a moment to let his mind settle into what he knew he had to do and the mask he would have to wear in order to do it. He was going to kill them. The fact was, Ash didn’t like to kill people. He didn’t even like fighting. He was good at it, but didn’t enjoy it. He hadn’t even liked killing Arthur and Arthur had hurt a lot of people Ash cared about. Ash killed to defend himself or other people. He had even, on rare occasions, killed for vengeance such as when he’d killed Doctor Abraham Dawson for killing Shorter or those Chinese guys who’d raped Jessica. But, if Ash had any choice, he would chose not to kill. However, they were too dangerous to live if they were going to go around attacking random little kids on Ash’s streets. Besides, as Sing was practically Shorter’s little brother and Shorter had been Ash’s best friend, then it stood to reason that Ash should do for Sing what he would do for any of his guys if someone attacked them like that.

Ash sauntered up to an empty table next to his targets and dropped himself lazily into a chair, his phone at his ear the whole time. He made certain to face his three targets and spoke in an obnoxiously loud voice.

“Blanca, are you sure about that?’

That one sentence was all it took for all three men at the table next to Ash to turn and look at him. He made very certain to keep his eyes on the traffic and kept talking.

“I mean, it’s kinda farfetched, isn’t it? Why would someone try to shoot you?” He paused, as if he were listening to someone on the other end of the phone. Of course, there was no one there as he wasn’t about to involve Blanca in this anymore than necessary. “I think you’re paranoid. It’s like you think assassins or terrorists are out to get you. For what?” Ash gave a dramatic sigh. “Yes, Blanca. I promise, if anything happens to you, I’ll go tell The Avengers. You gotta stop worrying. Say, you never gave me your new address. Where are you staying?” Ash paused, as if he were listening. “Right, got it. I’ll come over and visit in a few days.”

No sooner had Ash pretended to end the phone call than all three of his targets got up from their table and sat at his. One of the men, the one Ash remembered hitting Sing with the broken broomstick, smiled and said, “Sorry, couldn’t help but overhear. I think you might know a friend of ours. We heard you say Blanca’s name.”

“Really?” Ash would have gloated if he’d been a more petty boy. “Isn’t it a small world? And who are you?”

He gave Ash a friendly smile. “I’m Pablo. This is Joe,” he pointed to one of his companions. “And this is Ron. I’m real glad we ran into you. We’ve been having a terrible time trying to find Blanca.” 

“Gosh, I’m real sorry to hear that.” Ash didn’t, for a minute, believe that those names were actually the HYDRA soldier’s names, but it didn’t really matter. Pablo was a big man, a man who looked accustomed to using his strength to get what he wanted. Joe was smaller, but he had a sly look to him. Ron leered at Ash. Ash wasn’t at all surprised. There always seemed to be one slimeball hanging around. He stood and put his phone in his pocket. “You’ll have to excuse me, but I need to get home. I’ve got homework to do.” And he slipped away, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll let Blanca know he’s got friends in town! I’m sure he’ll give you a call, soon.”

They were following him. Ash could feel their eyes on the back of his head as he walked. He moved slowly enough that there was no way they could lose him before he turned and stepped into an alley that he knew led to an empty lot that wasn’t at all visible from the street. It was a nicely concealed spot, one he’d used before. There were several trees and a high chain-link fence covered with some kind of vine that made the place almost entirely invisible from the outside. In one corner of the empty lot there was an old, falling down garden shed.

The minute he stepped into that usefully secret place, he heard a few hurried steps behind him and knew the pursuers were making their move. He didn’t make any attempt dodge out of the way, but rather waited until he was grabbed by the arm. It was a risk, but he needed to know for certain. Those three had definitely attacked Sing, but if they were after Ash’s teacher, if HYDRA wanted Blanca, then Ash needed all the information he could get. He also wanted to know if it had anything to do with the Banana Fish, because he didn’t think it would be a good idea at all for HYDRA to get it. So he didn’t fight when Pablo slammed him up against the chain-link fence and even let out a distressed cry.

“What are you doing?” Ash demanded. “Leave me alone!”

“Shut up.” Pablo backhanded Ash hard enough that his head whipped to the side and he felt a sharp pain on his ear. His ear had hit the fence and, unless he was much mistaken, one of the sharp edges of the fence had cut him. “What do you know about Blanca?”

“He’s my chess teacher!” Ash blurted out. It was near enough the truth to be believable. They’d played a few games until Ash had grown so bored with it that Blanca taught him to play Go.

“Chess?” Joe sneered. “Really? And what’s your chess teacher’s full name?”

“I dunno. I met him in the park and we started playing. What do you care? You said you were his friends!” He made an attempt to push Pablo away, though he didn’t try too hard. “And there’s probably a million people named ‘Blanca’ in the city. Come on, lemme go!”

“Oh, the Blanca we’re looking for is pretty distinctive. Dark hair, big guy.” Pablo leaned closer and whispered into Ash’s ear, “He’s a killer. A real honest-to-God assassin. And I’d like to see if your teacher is the person we’re looking for, so you’re going to help us.”

“Right, yeah. Fine, I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever you say. Don’t hurt me, man!” Ash forced a few tears to his eyes and nearly laughed when he felt the hands holding him loosen. “But I’m telling you - you got the wrong guy. He’s not a killer.”

“Aww.” Ron, who’d leered at Ash, earlier, stepped forward and gave him a long look, up and down. “Poor thing’s scared. What were you talking about with your Blanca back at the cafe?”

Ash couldn’t have asked for an easier opening. “Please, don’t hurt me. I’m only sixteen.” He had decided that he’d grown too tall to pass himself off as fifteen, but sixteen was young enough that it would likely work. “We were just talking. He told me to be careful ‘cause he almost got shot the other day. He thinks there’s people trying to kill him.”

“He’s not stupid,” Joe said.

“Shut up.” Pablo turned his attention to Ash. “You’re going to tell us where Blanca is.” He pulled a gun out from under his coat and held it up for Ash to see. If Ash had been nearly anyone else, he might have been afraid. Honestly, he’d stopped being afraid of guns a long time ago. “And you’re going to be good and honest about it because I don’t like being lied to.”

Ash made a show of swallowing hard, as if he were really terrified.

Taking on three HYDRA agents at once when he wasn’t entirely healed, wasn’t a great idea. So, when he’d been working out his plan, Ash had decided that he needed to separate them, if possible, to kill them one at a time. Given the way Ron had leered at him, Ash knew how he’d be able to separate them and he knew it would work. It always worked. He looked over at Ron and made his eyes go as big as possible. “Come on, mister. Don’t let ‘em hurt me. I’ll do anything.”

Ash felt his stomach turn the minute the words left his mouth.

“Anything?” Ron said it with hungry sort of growl in his voice. Again, he eyed Ash. “I think something can be arranged.”

‘God! Don’t look at me!’ Ash felt bile rise in his throat as he did every time someone looked at him like that. ‘Sick. I’m gonna be sick. Gross! Why does this always have to work?’

Ash struggled to keep his mask of innocent fear on even as he felt himself starting to panic. He pushed it away. He could panic later, there was work to be done. 

Ash knew exactly what would happen. First, he’d beg Ron to take him somewhere private ‘cause he was young and innocent and would cry if he were watched while getting violated. It had worked with Marvin and that pork chop had known Ash for years, so he should have known not to let his guard down. Ron would take Ash to the only half-way private place there, the old shed. Once Ron got Ash alone, Ash would wait until he got close before he would slap a hand over the man’s mouth and sink Shorter’s knife into his heart. Shorter’s blade was warm and heavy in it’s holster under Ash’s jacket and Ash was certain Shorter would approve of his knife being used to avenge Sing. When that one was dead, Ash would go silent and wait. The other two would get impatient sooner or later and Pablo, who was clearly the leader, would send Joe to fetch Ron so they could get moving. Ash would wait just out of view until Joe stepped around the shed and then he’d come up behind that man and grab a handful of hair, pulling the man’s head back just enough to slit his throat. That would leave only the leader to deal with and Ash would go out to face him head on. That leader clearly didn’t think Ash was any kind of threat, so getting close enough to give a fatal blow wouldn’t be hard. He had to find an opportunity to see if they knew about the Banana Fish and thought he might have to hurt Pablo get that information. He could do it - he had thorough training in how to torture someone, even if he did end up with nightmares. Of course, he had to keep in mind that they were all surely armed, but as he’d worked hard to make himself seem harmless and frightened, he didn’t think even one of them would reach for a gun before he killed them. He had it all planned out, a nice, simple strategy.

The two other men groaned and called Ron a few foul names. “We have a situation, try to keep it in your pants!”

“It’ll just take a few minutes.” Ron took hold of Ash’s arm and started to pull him towards the old shed. “He’s got very pretty eyes.”

“What are you doing to that boy?”

At the entrance of the empty lot, stood Doctor Banner. He was disguised - a cowboy hat and sunglasses - and seemed as calm and steady as ever. Ash’s life often hung on his ability to read people, and he was confidant that Doctor Banner was as relaxed and at ease as he looked. He clearly had no idea who the men were or that they were armed. Ash chanced a glance at the three HYDRA soldiers and didn’t see a hint of fear in any of them which meant they didn’t know who Doctor Banner was.

Ash felt a flare of panic. Doctor Banner was NOT part of the plan!

To Be Continued...


	25. Story Time

Chapter 25: Story Time

The Avengers’ Tower-  
Doctor Bruce Banner-

Bruce waited until Phil and Tony had left with Ash before he hid himself away in the lab Tony was kind enough to share with him. It wasn’t Bruce’s lab, it had been years since he’d been able to call anything really ‘his’ but Tony was so generous that he gave Bruce free rein in the lab without hesitation and Bruce couldn’t find the words to express how grateful he was for that. He didn’t always work in the lab, wary of taking up too much of Tony’s time and space, but the lab felt safe, especially with so many people in the Tower.

“J.A.R.V.I.S., will you please lock the door?”

“Yes.” There was the distinct sound of several locks being turned and Bruce knew no one would get in the lab without J.A.R.V.I.S.’ permission. “Is everything alright? You don’t normally ask me to lock the door.”

“We don’t normally have so many people around.” He had never been a ‘people person’ and while he entirely approved of giving shelter to their guests and he did honestly like them, he couldn’t help but be uneasy. Especially with Max because he had been a soldier and he still carried himself like one. Bruce just couldn’t move beyond the fact that under Max’s care-free smile and obvious love for his family, was a soldier. It was almost absurd how nervous he got when Max was in the room. He didn’t feel so nervous around Phil or Steve, after all. “I just want a little quiet, that’s all. Just for a few minutes.”

“Of course. Just let me know when you’re ready to leave.”

So there Bruce stayed, safe and alone for nearly an hour. It gave him time to work on his research and to think, but, unfortunately, there was only one thing on his mind, lately. Ash. Bruce hadn’t said a word when everyone gathered together to be informed that someone loyal to Ash’s abuser was on the loose, but there was so much to think about. Ash’s description of the Banana Fish drug worried Bruce. He had a fair understanding of chemistry and biology and how certain chemicals interacted with the human body, but he had never heard of anything like Banana Fish. It was terrifying.

Bruce walked around the lab, barely seeing any of it, and thought about what could happen with Banana Fish and it made his blood run cold. If General Ross ever got hold of something like that... if someone found a way to dose Hulk with it...

In the part of their mind that they shared, Hulk stirred. Undoubtedly roused by Bruce’s stress, Hulk didn’t wake fully, but just enough for Bruce to know he had to calm down. He stopped walking and closed his eyes. He breathed deeply and pushed away thoughts of what might be and focused, instead, on what was. He had some calculations to work out. He sat at the big table Tony liked to work on and took a piece of paper from the stack of empty notebooks Tony left in the center of the table before he took a pen from the jar of pencils that sat next to the notebooks. 

He was trying to figure out if he could design a way to test D.N.A. that would result in fewer mistakes with the hopes of assisting police in criminal investigations. He was getting close and had just slipped into a nicely mellow state of mind when J.A.R.V.I.S. announced, 

“Everyone assemble in the common room. Emergency.”

And that was how they - Bruce, Steve, Clint, and Natasha - found out that Ash had run.

In the common room, Bruce froze for a moment. They had to go out to find Ash. He may have been kidnapped. He might be hurt or even dying. Bruce knew he wasn’t being overly dramatic. Given what he knew of Ash’s life and what he knew of how low human nature could be, Bruce had no doubt at all that Ash’s life was in very real danger and that the only thing really keeping him safe was that no one knew who the witness in the Club Cod matter was. All around him, plans were made for who would search what area of the city.

Bruce felt like there was lump of lead sitting in his stomach. Outside. He hated going outside. He hadn’t always hated being outside. It wasn’t long ago that being outside was the safest option because he was able to run away, while being in any kind of building was dangerous because there were only a few ways to escape. But since he’d come to live in The Tower and had friends around all the time... inside was safe. No one dared to invade Tony Stark’s home, not with J.A.R.V.I.S. and The Avengers standing guard.

He didn’t want to go out.

But... Ash...

A hand dropped on his shoulder and Bruce looked up at Clint. “You want to go with a buddy?”

Bruce could never find the words to tell how thankful he was for his friends. They knew him so well. But he couldn’t afford to be a coward. “We’ll find him faster if we split up. I’ll be alright. Thanks.”

Max, when they told him that Ash had gone missing, was fit to be tied and his anger, cursing and growling when he began to angrily pace around the room, was intimidating. Bruce sat very still. He kept his hands on his lap, but also kept his eyes on Max... just in case. Angry people worried him. Angry people hurt other people. His dad had been very angry, all the time.

“That fool kid is up to something!” Max had thundered. “He gave them the slip!”

Steve had tried to reason with him and suggested, “You know, he might have been kidnapped. He’s not stupid, so he probably didn’t just run off on a whim.”

“You don’t know him like I do. He probably DID run off on a whim with some hair-brained plan that he didn’t bother to tell anyone about. Damn it! When we find him, I’ll... I’ll...” But his words trailed away and he looked plaintively at Steve. “We gotta find him. He doesn’t take care of himself. Not really. I know he seems real tough, but... oh.... damn it.”

“We will. We won’t stop until we’ve got him safe and sound.”

So Bruce had gone out to search for Ash along with the team. He wore a disguise, a cowboy hat and a pair of sunglasses Tony had given him, just to be sure no one would recognize him, even though very few people even knew the name of Bruce Banner. At the main entrance of The Tower, they all parted ways, taking their agreed upon part of the city to look for Ash. Bruce wasn’t comfortable, he wasn’t happy, but he couldn’t let Ash face whatever danger he was up against alone. Ash was armed, true, but he was injured and no matter how he played it off, Bruce knew very well that anything could make Ash take a turn for the worst.

Bruce stepped off the sidewalk and into an alley. There were plenty of dark alleys and hidden passages through the city that most people would never think about, but those sorts of places had been Bruce’s home for years and he’d had nearly a lifetime of hiding and running and keeping himself in the shadows and he had the feeling that Ash, too, would be inclined to stay in shadows. It made very little sense that Bruce would feel safer in those alleys than on the main streets. He knew those alleys weren’t safe, knew that extremely dangerous people often haunted such places, but he had found a wonderful invisibility in such places where no one asked questions and everyone, for their own safety, minded their own business.

He had been searching for less than ten minutes when Tony’s voice sounded through the communicator in Bruce’s ear. “Bruce? Any luck?” 

“Not yet. You?”

“No. How could he just disappear? He’s got to be out there, somewhere.”

But Bruce knew very well how someone could decide to disappear, especially in a city. Tony wouldn’t know. Tony didn’t have the type of background that Bruce had and, for all of Tony’s brilliance, there were so many things he didn’t know. How would he have any way to know the millions of secrets paths and little nooks to hide in when he had never had to use them? He had the ghost of a thought that maybe, as a ‘thanks’ for Tony allowing Bruce to use his lab, he should offer to take Tony on a walk though the parts of the city Tony had never been in. He’d seemed fascinated when Ash had taken them to his club.

‘I have to make time to go see Bones and see how he’s doing,’ Bruce thought, absently. ‘He doesn’t have the kind of life where it’s going to be easy to keep that cast clean, if I’m not mistaken.’

For just over an hour, Bruce searched and it was only by chance that he started down a narrow alley that appeared to lead to nothing more than an abandoned lot overgrown with a great multitude of grass, shrubs, and vines. Bruce peeked into the lot and froze at what he saw and heard.

Ash, uncharacteristically meek, almost frightened to tears, said, “Right, yeah. Fine, I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever you say. Don’t hurt me, man! But I’m telling you - you got the wrong guy. He’s not a killer.”

Ash looked very small surrounded by three grown men. His eyes were filled with fear and he shook. Bruce listened for a time as none of them made any effort to really conceal themselves and he heard them talking about someone called ‘Blanca’ and Ash sounded close to tears. He heard Ash beg and promise to do anything. One of those men gave Ash a long, considering look and Bruce knew that sort of look. He had seen too many vulnerable people get taken advantage of to not recognize the hungry look Ash was the target of.

How many kids had Bruce seen in such hard spots over the years? Bruce hadn’t said anything to Ash, and probably wouldn’t, but the sad fact was that Ash’s situation wasn’t entirely unique. While he had never met anyone who’d suffered such extremes as Ash had, horrific abuse was endured by people - both children and adults - all the world over and had been since the beginning of humanity. He’d seen it too often. The sad eyes and cringing in fear and anger, so much anger...

Dad was yelling, again. Dad was always yelling, always angry.

Mom was crying. 

Bruce hid under the table. He was quiet. He listened. Yelling. They yelled and someone threw something and he was scared and scared and scared! Stop it, he wants it to stop, he doesn’t understand. It’s scary and loud and too much, too big. Stop, please stop, please stop, stop it! Stop it! STOP IT!

Bruce blinked and was suddenly out of his memory.

He heard one of the men say, “We have a situation, try to keep it in your pants!”

Then another man replied, “It’ll just take a few minutes. He’s got very pretty eyes.” That man had Ash by the arm and started to yank him across the empty lot.

And that was it. Bruce - without any thought of how he hated confrontations, that unknown people were dangerous, or that he really ought to call for back-up - stepped into the abandoned lot because getting Ash out of that situation was the only thing that mattered. “What are you doing to that boy?”

“This isn’t your business,” one of the men told Bruce. “Get lost.”

But Ash was staring at Bruce with wide eyes and his body ridged with tension. “Get out of here, man! I’m okay. You just have to go.” And when all three of the men turned to look at Bruce he saw, for just a flash of an instant, Ash’s face harden. Ash made a sharp gesture with his head, towards the alley Bruce had just gone though. It seemed clear that he was trying to tell Bruce to leave, but Bruce couldn’t. He couldn’t possibly leave Ash alone with such people.

He saw Ash and felt, deep inside him, Hulk stir.

“Get away from that boy.” Bruce took a breath and released it slowly. He didn’t move further into the lot, wary of making the men do something rash. “He doesn’t want to be here, that’s clear enough. Let him go.”

And then he was shot. There was no explosion of sound from the gun, they must have used a silencer, but the pain was sharp and mind-numbing, and all too familiar. Bruce had been shot before but it never got easier and the minute he felt the pain and he felt as if his world stopped as HE woke up.

Stretching.

Angry.

Scared.

Hulk twisted and roared, awareness crept in as he was roused from his long rest. Hulk eased Bruce backwards, deep into the safety of his own mind while Hulk surged forth and took command of their body. Bruce felt it, for a moment, the change. He felt their bones stretch and grow, felt their body grow heavy as extra mass and muscle was added. He even felt such small things as their jaw expanding and Bruce’s little teeth growing to become Hulk’s massive, square teeth. Bruce even felt the pain of the bullet wound ease away to nothing as the wound was healed by whatever chemical change swept through their body when Hulk was in control.

There was communication between Bruce and Hulk, though Bruce had never been able to find the words to explain it to anyone. He had tried. Only a short while ago, he’d tried to explain to Steve and Tony why he hadn’t wanted to go to the library after they’d learned about Club Cod. Hulk had felt Bruce’s anger about the murdered children and had interpreted it as a threat. But that explanation wasn’t entirely right. They couldn’t read each other’s minds or know what the other one was doing, but they could pick up on things, they were aware of each other, and sometimes, some very rare times, they were able to share some memories and, even more rarely, words. That was hard and there was only the most fleeing moment when it could happen - as they passed each other while one took control and one went to rest.

Bruce felt himself rushing by the angry, ready-to-fight Hulk and he forced his words over to the other.

'Danger. The boy. Protect. The boy. Protect.' And that was all he had time for before he was in the darkness, the warmth, of their mind. 

Their mind was peaceful, near the back, far from thoughts and feelings and wants and needs. He forgot  
Ash, the trial, the dangerous men, and forgot to worry what Hulk might do with his rage. Once, Bruce had tried to explain it to Phil, but... the thought was gone. There was nothing but comfort and peace, a deep restfulness that lulled Bruce to sleep.

Ash-

When Doctor Banner got shot, Ash attacked. He had Shorter’s knife in his hand before any of his enemies realized what was happening. The perv who held his arm died first. Ash stabbed him, several inches of cold metal right through the heart, then he turned and did exactly the same thing to the other man who stood nearby. Pablo was too far away to just stab and was faster with his gun than Ash liked. He fired and Ash only barely had time to dodge out of the way. He was too slow when the second shot came and he felt the burning of the bullet when it skimmed across the surface of his arm, barely touching him, but it was enough to make Ash stumble. He fell to his knees and though he started to get up immediately, when he looked up, Pablo stood over him, with the gun aimed squarely at Ash’s face.

Ash froze. Shorter’s knife was still in his hand. He thought of the leopard on the mountain he’d once told Eiji about and how he’d wondered long and hard about why the leopard had died on the side of that mountain, but, almost instantly, the thought was gone - smoke in the wind. No matter why that leopard had died on the mountain, Ash couldn’t die. There were too many things to do, too many things and people he was responsible for. More importantly, he didn’t want to die.

There was a rumble from behind Ash and Pablo looked up, over the top of Ash’s head. His eyes grew very wide and the blood drained from his face, leaving him as pale as the belly of a fish.

Ash used the distraction and charged while Pablo’s attention was on Doctor Banner. He swung Shorter’s knife at Pablo, but Pablo was no slouch and was a step above the usual scum Ash scuffled with. He dodged easily out of the way and used his gun to bash Ash’s hand, knocking Shorter’s knife to the ground before he used his other hand to punch Ash hard in the gut.

Something tore. Pain shot like electricity all through Ash’s body, emanating from the wound Lao had given him and stars danced in front of his eyes as Ash went down, again. He fell right onto his side. One hand reached for Shorter’s knife while the other was pressed against his wound, as if that might stop the pain, somehow.

Pablo aimed his gun, again.

‘Get up!’ Ash shouted at himself. He gritted his teeth. ‘Get up! Get up! I will not just lay down and die! I have to destroy the Banana Fish! I have to go to court! I have to tell Eiji - ”

There was a sound. A terrible, awful sound filled with pain and anger and fear. It was something of a cross between a scream and growl and it filled the air, like a fog made of fury.

Pablo, again, looked over Ash’s head and whatever he’d seen before that had turned him pale was enough to set him trembling. His gun wavered in his hand and he took a step back, away from Ash. Then he raised his gun and aimed, not at Ash, but at where Doctor Banner had fallen.

Ash, still dazed and trying to get himself to his feet, managed to push himself up on one elbow and looked over his shoulder to where Pablo was staring. Like a fool, he gaped in horror at what he saw.

Doctor Banner was changing and it was nothing like what Ash had thought the infamous transformation would be like. It looked agonizing. Doctor Banner’s body expanded, grew bigger and bigger, and Ash was stuck by fear. He was not in the habit of showing fear because that was a weakness that would, without doubt, be exploited by an enemy, but watching Doctor Banner transform into the Hulk froze Ash in place. He couldn’t get to his feet. He couldn’t turn away. Even his breath felt frozen in his lungs. All that he could do, was feel around blindly until his hand landed onto the hilt of Shorter’s knife. He wrapped his hand tightly around it and pulled the knife to him where he held it against his chest, as if it were shield to protect him, but as Doctor Banner grew, so did Ash’s fear.

It only took seconds until the Hulk had completely replaced Doctor Banner and Ash, staring up at him, couldn’t breathe.

‘He’s big. Oh, God. He’s really big. Bigger than Marvin. Bigger than Dino. Hell, he’s bigger than Blanca and I didn’t think anyone could be bigger than Blanca! Help me. Max. Eiji. Eiji!’ But Ash stayed quiet and didn’t say anything he was thinking. He felt like a child, again, looking up at the Hulk. He was a child staring up at big men who had seemed unimaginably strong, men who’d hurt him in unspeakable ways. Photographs and descriptions could never really portray the sheer mass of the Hulk and it was that mass that terrified Ash along with the knowledge that, if the reports he’d read about the Hulk were true, no knife or gun could kill him or even slow him down. Ash felt small and helpless in such a way that he hadn’t felt in many years.

The Hulk, entirely free and in control, stood up from where Doctor Banner had fallen after being shot, and grimaced as he let out a roar before he raised both hands over his head and shook his fists at the sky. He looked quickly around, this way and that, his eyes, just as sharply green as Ash’s were, took in everything and lingered only briefly on the dead HYDRA soldiers. “Hulk smash!” He barely looked at Ash, but turned his wrath on Pablo.

Pablo fired. Three shots in quick succession and not one of them did anything except make Hulk swat at the air, as if he were chasing away bothersome mosquitoes. Almost visibly, the Hulk’s terrifying anger seemed to grow, multiplying in the mere blink of an eye. Hulk roared and it shook Ash right to the bones. Pablo started firing rapidly, using up all his bullets, though not one of them had caused any damage. When he ran out of bullets, Pablo threw his gun at the Hulk, then turned and started to run. But Hulk was as fast as he was strong. He leapt, straight over Ash, and grabbed Pablo, lifting him clean off his feet. When Pablo started to scream, Hulk simply threw him at the ground where Pablo bounced once before he fell still. There was blood running from his nose and ears.

Ash knew what a dead person looked like and felt a certain satisfaction that none of those three HYDRA soldiers would ever hurt the people in his city, again, and that he’d done his duty by Sing and Blanca. That satisfaction didn’t erase the lump of guilt in his gut because he’d killed people... again... and he’d managed to get Doctor Banner involved. Because of him, Doctor Banner’s Hulk had killed someone and, even though Pablo had been trying to kill both Ash and Hulk and he’d shot Doctor Banner. It wasn’t right. Ash didn’t want to do such ugly things, but if he had to do them, he certainly didn’t want to involve perfectly innocent people like Doctor Banner. And Doctor Banner had been nice - he’d taken care of Bones without asking for a bit of payment.

Hulk had not been appeased by Pablo’s death. He stood there, barely two yards away from Ash, his teeth still bared, his whole body ridged with tension. He let out another roar before he went to Pablo’s dead friends and seemed to be examining, them. “Smashed?” He turned his huge head and looked at Ash.

And, finally, Ash seemed to regain his control. He struggled to his feet and, with one hand still pressed against his wound, he took a deep breath to help calm himself. “Yeah. Ash smashed.”

It seemed to confuse Hulk. He bent down to look at Ash and seemed puzzled. He breathed in through his nose, as if he were smelling Ash, and looked back at the dead men. He lumbered heavily over to them and looked around. His eyes fell on Pablo’s fallen gun an instant before he stepped on it and, when he lifted his foot, Ash saw that the gun had been squashed flat as a pancake. Hulk swung around and looked at Ash, again.

Ash wanted to run, wanted to find somewhere safe to hide, just like he used to do when Marvin started to look at him in that way he had when he would start grinning for no reason and his nostrils would flare. But he didn’t move. He would not show fear. It went against all his training. So there he stood, like a sitting target, bracing himself to fight even when he knew there was no possible way he could win against Hulk. No one could. He was reasonably certain that even Thor couldn’t defeat Hulk. Still, he stood.

Hulk pulled back his lips and bared his teeth at the sight of the knife in Ash’s hand. “Sharp. Bad!”

“Yeah, well,” Ash’s hand tightened on Shorter’s knife. “I’m not getting rid of it.” He slid the knife back into the sheath on the shoulder holster he wore under his coat in the hopes that it might help calm Hulk.

Hulk looked at the dead men, then at Ash. He repeated the move several times and each time he did, Ash could see him getting more and more agitated. He began to growl, low and steady. He thumped the ground with one fist. “Who hurt Bruce?” The words rumbled out of Hulk’s mouth, low and grating, like they’d been painfully pushed over sharp rocks.

“That one,” Ash pointed at Pablo. “You don’t have to be upset. He’s dead.”

But Hulk didn’t seem to listen. He shifted back and forth from foot-to-foot, as if he couldn’t decide what to do with himself. Then he started to get angry and all that anger erupting from someone as big as Hulk did nothing to calm Ash. He felt like his nerves were strung too tightly and every muscle in his body was tensed, ready to run or fight, even though his mind told him that, logically, neither option would do any good. Hulk bent partially over, putting his knuckles on the ground even as he pulled in a deep breath and let out a fearsome bellow so great that Ash could actually feel the vibrations of it in the air.

Perhaps it was the great sound or perhaps it was the idea that someone living in one of the nearby apartments might get curious about all the noise and actually go investigate and start a panic when they found Hulk, but whatever the reason, Ash pushed his fear to the back of his mind and snapped, “Now, knock that off. What do you wanna do, go and scare people?”

That made Hulk stop. He looked up at all the buildings that towered over the little lot. While the lot was hidden and secluded, they weren’t entirely invisible. They were in the middle of New York City, after all. The taller nearby buildings were visible and Ash knew at least some of them must have heard the noise Hulk had made.

Hulk picked up Ash suddenly and, without hesitation or difficulty, he threw Ash over one shoulder and jumped up and away.

Ash shouted at being grabbed and manhandled, but then he opened his eyes and he stopped. They were in the air, soaring.

Flying. He was flying.

The ground beneath seemed to race away, everything growing small as Hulk’s inhuman strength launched them upward and forward with fearsome speed. And then it grew closer as Hulk began to descend. They landed with a jolt that could have been worse, but did nothing to make Ash’s wound feel better. They were only on the ground for an instant before Hulk jumped, again.

‘Is this what Eiji felt when he pole vaulted?’ Ash wondered as they soared up. ‘An intense force pushing upward and then,’ They began to fall back to the earth. ‘An unrestrained fall. No wonder he loved it. Flying. I’m almost flying.’ Of course he wasn’t doing anything, he was merely along for the ride, but the wind was sharp against his face and he was almost overcome with the feeling that, with just a tiny bit more effort, he might really fly and he would be able to leave the whole world behind. How he’d dreamed of that for years! But he couldn’t leave everyone behind, not now.

“Hey!” Ash called out, with no idea at all whether or not Hulk would be able to hear him over the wind. “Hey, come on, man, let me down. Put me down!”

Hulk didn’t answer and he didn’t stop moving until he’d taken them to one of the densest parts of Central Park. Once there, he put Ash on the ground and Ash stumbled away. He put a good few yards between them and had to take a moment to steady himself. Hulk looked quickly around, whipping his head this way and that, as if he were afraid someone were going to jump out at them. 

“Were you... scared that people would be scared of you?” Ash asked.

“Scared is...” Hulk paused and seemed to hunt for the right word. “Dangerous.” 

“You got that right.” Ash made sure to keep out of reach of the Hulk, but he wasn’t really sure how much good it did. The Hulk was so fast, he could have grabbed Ash before Ash could do anything about it. He wanted nothing more than to slip away, to run from the Hulk, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. It just didn’t seem right to leave Hulk alone. “Right, you just stay there and relax a bit. I’m gonna call your friends and have someone come get you.”

Hulk’s eyes went wide. “Tony?”

“Yeah, sure.” He took out his phone and started to dial Max’s number, but before he could finish, Hulk snatched the phone out of Ash’s hand. “Hey!”

Hulk brought the phone up close to his face to examine it. He turned it over in his hands and even sniffed it before he muttered, “Tony.” and took one of his huge fingers and tapped the screen of the phone. The phone broke, shattering into pieces that fell on the ground at Hulk’s feet. And while Ash groaned at the inconvenience of getting yet another phone ruined, Hulk was far more upset. He stared down at the ruins of the phone before he let out a guttural growl and slammed one fist down on the bits of phone. 

“Jeeze, don’t get so worked up,” Ash said. He still kept himself away from Hulk as he was suddenly reminded of his father and how his father used to get so very angry about the littlest things, especially after he’d been drinking. Of course, Ash could have used Sing’s phone, but he didn’t want to take the chance of that one getting broken, too. “It’s okay. Your friends will come and get you even without a call. All the noise you were making, I’m sure someone heard you. They probably saw us jumping around the city, too. They’ll be here, soon.” He didn’t think trying to have Hulk walk back to The Avengers’ Tower would be a good idea.

Hulk stopped growling, but the ugly look of such intense anger didn’t leave his face. Hulk turned away from Ash and started walking away with a lumbering, rolling gait.

“Where are you going?” Ash asked. He hurried to catch up. “You can’t leave.”

“Going. Bruce wakes up.”

“But you gotta stay here ‘cause your friends are going to look for you and they’ll find you better if you stay in one place. And Doctor Banner... wait a minute. He got shot.”

It was the wrong thing to say because it set Hulk off growling, again. 

“I know you’re unhappy about that, but listen. He got shot. You don’t have any wounds.” He looked closely, but didn’t see even a single mark on Hulk where the bullet wound should have been. “Is Doctor Banner still gonna have that wound if you transform back into him?” Ash had never really paid all that much attention to superheroes, they’d always seemed like far-away characters in a story rather than actual people, but he found himself wishing that he had paid more attention. Then, he might know if Doctor Banner would bleed out the minute Hulk turned back into him.

Though he stopped walking, Hulk didn’t answer the question and, instead just looked confused. He frowned at Ash and shrugged.

Yes, Ash definitely needed to do a little research on his hosts. He had no idea how the whole Doctor Banner / Hulk thing worked and suddenly felt very ignorant. He didn’t like not knowing. Doctor Banner had been kind, too kind for Ash to do nothing and chance letting him die. “Look, you don’t want Doctor Banner to be hurt, right? That’s why you killed Pablo, ‘cause he tried to kill Doctor Banner.”

Hulk nodded, slowly. “Bruce... hurt.”

“Yeah, I know he’s hurt. But you don’t want him to be MORE hurt, so you need to let him stay... wherever he is. When your friends get here, they can get him to a hospital or something if he needs it.”

“Hurt.” Hulk appeared to consider what Ash said. He frowned and scratched his head. Then he pointed at Ash. “Hurt?”

His wounds hurt. He’d been trying not to think about it, but they hurt. The wound on his arm from where Pablo had shot him was hardly worth thinking about, it was such a minor wound, but his gut hurt. He pulled open his coat and looked down at his stomach. There, where Lao had stabbed him, was the smallest hint of blood staining his t-shirt. He pulled up the hem of his shirt and grimaced when he saw three popped stitches. “Damn it. Max is gonna have kittens.”

“Kittens.” Hulk rumbled the word and moved closer to look down at Ash. “Kittens hurt?” He reached out towards Ash’s wound, but Ash quickly pulled his shirt down and wrapped his coat around himself a little tighter.

“I’m fine. And there aren’t any kittens.” And when Hulk’s face fell with disappointment, Ash very suddenly realized something. It struck him so fiercely that, for a moment, he just stared at Hulk. Then he smiled. “God... you’re just a kid, aren’t you?”

Then, with a great, long sigh, Hulk sat down. But, even as Ash began to relax, Hulk started to work himself up, again. Whatever was going on in his head was a mystery, but he rocked back and forth and his expression turned darker and darker. He scowled at Ash, then took another deep breath, clearly preparing for another howling session. 

Desperate to stop another bout of noise, Ash quickly piped up, “Want a story?” Really, it had been the first thing that had sprung to mind, for some reason.

Hulk stopped. He blinked at Ash. “Story?”

“Yeah. Want one? I’ve got lots of stories.” His heart began to slow from the rapid beat it had been hammering in his chest since the moment Hulk had appeared.

Hulk pulled his knees up to his chest. He looked at Ash, expectantly.

“You are a kid. A big, green kid who has world-class temper tantrums. Cripes, I think you’re younger than Michael.”

Hulk tipped his head to one side in a curious sort of gesture. “Michael?”

“Yeah. He’s my...” It was complicated and Ash didn’t think Hulk would understand anything complicated. So he settled with the easiest explanation. “He’s my kid brother.”

“Brother.”

Now knowing that Hulk was not precisely an adult, Ash felt quite at ease with him. He sat down in front of Hulk and, looking at Hulk, Ash was suddenly reminded of his promise to make Michael a green superhero cape. He couldn’t break that promise. He tried to think of a story he could tell Hulk that would keep him calm and in one place until one of the other Avengers turned up.

Hulk noticed how Ash was holding his wound and turned his head this way and that, all the time staring at Ash. “Hurt. Blood. Hurt.”

“Don’t worry. I have enough people worrying for me. How about you? You okay?”

“Good. Strong.” But he rubbed his face with both hands. “Tired. Bruce comes out, now? Tired. Want to sleep.”

“I’m sorry you’re tired, but try to stay here a little longer. For Bruce.” Ash didn’t know why Hulk would be so tired. Compared to some of the news footage he’d seen about Hulk, Hulk really hadn’t done much since he and Doctor Banner had switched places. He theorized that it was something to do with the anger or, probably more precisely, adrenalin. When hulk was on the news, he was always, without fail, in a fury. Right then, sitting on the forest floor, waiting for a story, he wasn’t angry or even particularly upset, though Ash suspected that might change at any moment. “So, you try to stay here with me and I’ll tell you a great story.” He had no idea what an overgrown toddler might like to listen to. As he thought about what story to tell, Ash let part of his mind shift to other responsibilities he had to take care of. Gregory knew he was being looked for, now, and must surely guess that it was Ash who was looking for him. He’d be even more dangerous if he felt cornered. HYDRA had a tiny army hunting Blanca and Thema Shehata was giving the orders. He’d warned Blanca and knew Blanca would skip town if things got too hot to handle, but Ash would have to figure out what to do about Shehata. And he still wondered who’d shot the fake F.B.I. agents who’d nearly killed Nadia in Chinatown because he couldn’t figure out who’d do that and want to keep themselves secret.

“So,” Ash crossed his arms and looked at Hulk. “Once upon a time, there was a hare who thought he was fastest animal in the whole forest. Once day, he wanted to race and...”

Hulk sat and listened in rapt attention. He even laughed when Ash did silly voices. 

Elsewhere-  
Gregory-

Gregory’s anger simmered on a low, steady boil when he sat in the storage room of one of Papa Dino’s legitimate businesses - a high-end men’s clothing store. It, like many of Papa Dino’s businesses, had been abandoned as employees had frantically sought to distance themselves from the brewing scandal that the coming legal proceedings would create. Gregory found the place a comfortable enough place to rest, especially as he knew the business wasn’t exactly in Papa Dino’s name, legally speaking, so the cops wouldn’t find it too quickly. He took all the money from the safe in the office and washed up in the employee’s washroom before he got himself a new set of clothes and all the while he seethed.

Waiting for Thema Shehata to deal with Blanca had clearly been a mistake. It was taking too long and the longer he waited, the more people seemed to be looking for him. He’d already had to kill several people when they’d confronted him, two teenagers from Chinatown and one he recognized as being from Cain Blood’s gang in Harlem. The police would undoubtedly be trying to find him and, if he was right about that drone he’d shot out of the air, it looked like The Avengers’ were after him, as well, because he knew that had been the logo of Stark Industries he’d seen on the drone. He was reduced to hiding and he decided, as he sat there and drummed his fingers on the top of the metal suitcase he’d been carrying for days, that waiting for Thema Shehata to kill Blanca had put him in more danger. He couldn’t afford to wait for her any longer. As far as he was concerned, she would never get the Banana Fish. He would have to take his chances and kill Ash even though Blanca might try to kill him while he was at it.

He looked down at the metal suitcase. It sat on his lap where it had spent much time since he’d gotten it because he was too worried about losing it or having some common low-life steal it. He needed to get it open, despite the melted lock.

Elsewhere-

He was so hungry.

There had always been food at Club Cod. There hadn’t been much of it, but it had been enough that he’d never felt so miserably empty that his stomach actually hurt. He’d found some food in a garbage can, the day before, but it wasn’t enough. He didn’t understand, he just didn’t understand. The whole world was too big, too scary. There were people everywhere, but no one really looked at him or talked to him or told him what to do, so he was really scared all the time. How had everything turned confusing so suddenly? He’d been a good boy. He’d done just what he was told to do and, all the time, he was as good as he could be.

The day everything had changed, he’d gone out for his appointment, just like always. Papa Dino’s driver had taken him to the hotel where he was suppose to go to his appointment. He had done just what Papa Dino’s client wanted him to do, hadn’t complained or fussed because making the client angry was a sure way to make Papa Dino angry and that was scary, scary, scary. He’d been good. He’d been obedient. But when the client had finished with him and told him to leave, he’d gone down to the hotel’s lobby, just like he was supposed to, but the driver hadn’t been waiting for him.

He’d been wandering around the city ever since, trying to find his way home to Club Cod. Papa Dino was going to be so mad at him when he got home!

“Hello.”

He turned and there was a policeman in a smart blue uniform.

“You look a bit worried. Can I help?” The policeman waited for a minute, then said, “It’s alright. I’m here to help. What’s your name?”

“Peter. I’m Peter.” At least he knew the answer to that question, but he also knew the rule was that he wasn’t supposed to talk to policemen. That was a very important rule. Peter bit his lip and took a step backwards, away from the policeman.

“Don’t be scared. Can you tell me how old you are?”

Peter floundered. He didn’t know. Papa Dino had told him that his age didn’t matter, so long as he looked young and pretty. He had liked Peter’s fair hair and eyes and had once even said that Peter was quite nearly as pretty as Papa Dino’s favorite little wild cat. 

“Maybe you can tell me where your family is and I can help you get back to them. Why don’t you come with me to the police station and...”

Peter turned and ran. He didn’t know why, exactly, he wasn’t supposed to talk to policemen, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t understand most of the rules, but so long as he obeyed them, Papa Dino wouldn’t get mad at him. So Peter ran, even as the policeman yelled for him to stop. He kept running and running and wished someone would tell him what to do because he was scared. He was so scared. 

To Be Continued...


	26. Taking Care

Dear Readers: I feel like I should explain something, as there seems to have been a little confusion in my previous chapter. The Peter mentioned is not Peter Parker, but a character in Banana Fish. SPOILERS! In Episode 17 of the anime, when Ash was pretending to be a ‘call boy’ and went to see Senator Kippard, Kippard was expecting someone named Peter and Ash told him that Peter wasn’t feeling well, so Ash had been sent instead. He was also in the manga, volume 12, I think.

I’m very sorry for the confusion.

Chapter 26: Taking Care

Ash-

Ash’s throat was sore and dry from storytelling, but it kept Hulk happy and content so Ash didn’t want to risk stopping. He really had thought The Avengers would have found them sooner, but nearly an hour had passed since Hulk had brought Ash to Central Park and there hadn’t been a sign of a single other person in all that time. 

“You really like stories, huh?” When Hulk nodded, Ash continued. “Yeah, me, too. You know, if my buddy Shorter was here, he could tell you some different ones because his parents told him stories from China and I don’t know all of those. You’d have liked Shorter. Everyone liked Shorter. Well... most people liked Shorter. He was great. The smartest person I ever knew. He taught me tons of stuff.”

There were some times when Ash missed Shorter so much that the pain was almost unbearable. He still dreamed about killing Shorter and listening to Arthur laugh while Shorter was still and cold on the cement floor of the torture chamber under Dino’s mansion. He could hear Eiji crying for Shorter and saw the looks of horror on Max and Ibe-san’s faces when they’d been forced to watch it all. In his nightmares, he could even feel the cold metal of the gun in his hands.

Ash swallowed hard and turned his mind away from all that. Hulk and Doctor Banner needed him and Ash, if nothing else, knew his responsibility. Doctor Banner had done Ash a good turn when he’d helped Bones even with Bones nearly having a panic attack at the idea of a doctor getting close to him. Ash knew how to repay a favor. He also knew that Doctor Banner, who rarely ever left the safety of The Avenger’s Tower, had gone out, alone, to look for Ash and, while he hadn’t been part of Ash’s plan for how he was going to deal with Sing’s attackers, Doctor Banner had tried to help. He’d put himself in danger for Ash.

Hulk scratched absently at his ear and watched a chipmunk run across the clearing he and Ash had settled into to wait for The Avengers.

Ash knew his responsibility was to take care of Hulk and Doctor Banner because they’d helped him. Hulk was unspeakably big and strong, but he clearly wasn’t able to take care of himself and Ash very easily put Hulk and Doctor Banner into the box in his mind where he kept all the other people who were his responsibility - Alex, Bones, Kong, Max, Jessica, Michael, Ibe-san, Eiji, Blanca, Sing, Nadia, Charlie, Captain Jenkins... the list was getting longer everyday, but Ash thought he still had room in that box for more. So Hulk and Doctor Banner were added in and he would take care of them while they needed it.

He started another story for Hulk, The Grasshopper and the Ant, and while he did he thought about Shorter and how Shorter had once helped him learn how to take care of someone and be responsible for them.

Memory-

Ash had been fourteen when a hard winter had come to New York. Most winters were hard, but this one had brought a dangerous cold along with snowstorms. It felt like it would never let up. That winter was only weeks after Ash had been let out of juvie, but he almost wished he were still there. Not that he liked juvie, but at least it was warm and there was food. It had been better than the week he’d been forced to stay in Dino’s mansion in New Jersey because, Dino had said, he’d been lonely while Ash had been away.

The snowstorm had faded away, but the sidewalks were still covered in snow and ice. A biting wind ran though the city and it bit fiercely at Ash. His ears and nose hurt from the cold. He’d tucked his hands into his armpits to keep them warm. For all that, he stayed on the streets. It was better than going back to Dino’s place.

The shelters were full, but his favorite soup kitchen - the one recommended by Captain Jenkins - was open and he didn’t mind the nuns who ran it so he headed there. They let him stay as long as he liked and served up stew most days. Sometimes, he’d sit there with his hands wrapped around the bowl of hot stew just to enjoy the warmth. There were sometimes donated clothes people were allowed to just take - no payment needed at all - and he’d really like some mittens. Or a hat. Maybe even both, if he was lucky.

“You know I’d give you anything you want, sweetheart.” Dino’s voice ran through Ash’s mind like poison. It was so real, so clear, that Ash felt a chill run down his spine that had nothing to do with the weather. He kept walking. Dino really would give Ash just about anything he wanted - so long as that thing Ash wanted wasn’t freedom - but Ash didn’t take anything more from Dino than he absolutely needed to. He didn’t like the look of self-satisfaction Dino would get when Ash was forced to take something from him - as if he was doing Ash some great kindness.

The soup kitchen was full and with the weather it was no surprise. Every table was packed. Still, one of the friendly nuns waved at him from the counter where food was served. She handed him a tray that held a ham sandwich, a carton of milk, an apple, and a chocolate bar. Ash blinked at the chocolate bar in surprise as they never served sweets.

“I thought you might drop by with this weather,” the nun said. “So I thought I’d give you a little treat.” She put a finger to her lips and said, with a teasing smile, “Don’t tell anyone or I’ll get in trouble.”

“Thank you, Sister.”

“It’s not a problem. Just eat your fill.” She had tried to get him to accept help the first few times she had met him, but knew Ash wouldn’t. He couldn’t. Dino would find out and then not only would Ash be punished, but the nice Sister would probably get hurt, too. He found a quiet corner where he could sit on the floor and eat with the added benefit that it was right near the heating vent on the floor so he could warm up all the faster. He ate the sandwich and apple and drank the milk, but put the candy bar in his pocket to save for later. He was more than a little disappointed that there was no hot stew, but beggars can’t be choosers, as they say.

Sadly, Ash didn’t find a hat or mittens in the charity clothes, but he did find a pair of brand new socks which he did take after deciding that he could wear them on his hands instead of mittens.

Ash left the soup kitchen when the nice Sister wasn’t looking because he knew she’d ask him if he had a warm place to sleep and if he was honest, he’d only make her unhappy. He was planning to sleep on the subway. He had enough money to get on and he’d just stay on all night. If he was lucky, he could find an empty car and fall asleep for a while. If he told her that, she would want to call social services and he’d end up having to run. 

He was nearly at the subway when he was attacked.

***

It was getting dark and Ash lay on his side in an alley. He’d stopped being cold. He was almost positive that was a bad thing, but the painful cold had eased into a comfortable numbness. He was tired. So desperately tired. He closed his eyes and could almost imagine that the whole world disappeared. Even the sound of the nearby traffic grew dim and distant. He was alone, alone in the whole world and it was a relief. He tried to open his eyes, but couldn’t find the strength. After a minute, he stopped trying.

He was sinking. Fading.

There was a voice near his ear. Warm breath on his face. A big hand touched his face, then his arm. Very slowly, like the opening of a spring flower, Ash was pulled back towards wakefulness. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like the hand on him. The warmth was uncomfortable and seemed to push away the blessed numbness. That warm hand brushed through his hair, pushing it away from his face. The voice said something, again. It was familiar. A safe voice and Ash was drawn towards it.

“Come on, open your eyes, kid. Don’t do this.”

Ash didn’t understand. The voice was safe, it wouldn’t hurt him, but he didn’t want to wake up. He was so tired. He wanted to sleep, to forget everything. The warm hands started to rub his face and as the cold was chased away, his face... it... it hurt! It hurt and Ash wanted to cry because that voice wasn’t supposed to hurt him. It was a safe voice and it hurt, it hurt.

“Ash? Open your eyes. Please, man.” The hands rubbed a little more. “Damn it. Right, here we go.” The hands took hold of Ash and they were fearsomely strong.

Ash’s eyes fluttered opened and he let out a groan, trying to protest, but quite unable to force any actual words out. ‘Stop it, stop it,’ he wanted to shout. ‘Leave me alone.’ It was with more than a little trouble that he finally focused on the face looking down at him and, when he did, the fight drained away from him. “Shorter?”

Shorter smiled. “Hey, look who’s still alive! Man, what are you doing out here in the snow? Another blizzard is just getting started. You’re gonna freeze to death out here.”

He hadn’t seen Shorter since juvie and he had been sad to see Shorter leave when his time was done, even though that had been very selfish of him. “I’m tired.” His words came out slurred and too quiet.

“Yeah, well, let’s get you somewhere a little warmer to sleep. Can you stand?”

Ash tried. He really did. But he didn’t feel quite right. He couldn’t get his arms or legs to move. So he looked back at Shorter. “I’ll just stay here.”

“Like Hell.” Shorter took off his knitted hat and put it on Ash, carefully pulling it down over Ash’s ears, then took off his coat and put that on Ash, though it was hard because Ash still couldn’t find any strength to help by moving his arms. Ash didn’t like it. He didn’t want Shorter to be cold, but he was having so much trouble just keeping his eyes opened that he didn’t think he’d be able to find the right words to convince Shorter to keep his clothes. Shorter said, “Be very thankful, my scrawny little friend, today you get to have the magnificent Shorter Wong as your personal servant.” Despite Ash’s protests and with a great deal of maneuvering, Shorter managed to get Ash up on his back and carried him, piggyback, down the sidewalk. Ash gave up protesting very quickly and let his head rest against Shorter’s. “There you go,” he heard Shorter say. “Make yourself comfortable. Just relax and let Boss take care of everything.”

“You’re still bald.”

“Yup. Just like a bowling ball. I’m thinking of growing it long. What do you think? Maybe I’ll get some tattoos or piercingly.” He paused a moment. “Come on, talk to me. Tattoos or piercingly?”

Ash’s foggy mind didn’t really understand. “Not allowed. Papa will get mad.”

Shorter laughed and Ash smiled. He liked the sound of Shorter’s laugh. It was warm, just like the rest of him. “Don’t worry, I won’t make anyone mad. Hey, there’s home. Let’s put you to bed.”

There was something dangerous about that, but Ash couldn’t quite focus his mind enough to figure out what was so dangerous about someone putting him to bed and, besides, Shorter wasn’t dangerous - not to Ash. So he stayed quiet and let himself be carried. He was warmer with Shorter, his chest leaning heavily against Shorter’s back as he was carried and if he turned his head in just the right way, his cheek pressed against Shorter’s. Ash tried to tighten his arms around Shorter’s neck. 

“My big brother used to carry me like this,” Ash muttered. “He was so strong and big as a mountain.”

“You got a brother? Tell me all about him. Come on, talk. Anything, just talk to me. I don’t want you to fall asleep, yet. Wait until I get you somewhere safe.”

But Ash couldn’t think of anything to say. The pain Ash had felt when Shorter had rubbed at his face and chased away the pleasant numbness was still there, but it could have been worse, thanks to Shorter’s hat and coat.

They arrived at Shorter’s home as the sun was setting and, outside, Shorter paused and said, “Now look, you can walk in or I can carry you, but I didn’t think you’d want too many people to see you being carried, even though most of my guys probably already know because they’re always hanging out around here and they gossip like old hens. You want to walk in?”

Ash looked over Shorter’s shoulder at the restaurant just beyond. It was packed with people. There was something dangerous about being seen weak, and he was sure if his mind weren’t quite so foggy he could pinpoint what that something dangerous was, but he shook his head. “My feet hurt. I can’t walk. My feet...”

“Oh. Right. No problem. We have a back door.” So Shorter headed around to the back of the restaurant. At the back door, Shorter took a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. He carried Ash up a flight of stairs to a small room with nothing in it but a bed. Shorter had Ash sit on the bed and then went to get some supplies. The place was so wonderfully warm that Ash felt quite a bit better even before Shorter returned with a basin of water, a towel, some bandages, and a couple of blankets. Shorter sat next to Ash on the bed and held out the cloth to him.

“What are you doing?” Ash asked, cautiously.

“Don’t panic. I’m just want you to get washed up a little. You’re kind of a real mess. If my sister sees you like this, she’s gonna have a conniption.”

Ash took the cloth, but still felt weak. It was like the cold had stolen all his strength and left him as weak as a baby. And his fingers were still numb so he could hardly lift the cloth. He kept trying until he was finally able to dip the cloth in the warm water and rub his face clean. It felt so good to be clean.

“Hey,” Shorter said, “There’s blood on the back of your head. I think you maybe hit your head. Can I help?”

There were very few people Ash would allow to help with such at thing, but Shorter was one of them. Shorter moved behind Ash and used one hand against the side of Ash’s face to hold his head steady while he gently used his other hand to clean the back of Ash’s head. Shorter’s hands were big and warm. They were huge, nearly double the size of Ash’s hands despite the fact that they weren’t really all that different in age. “What happened? You get jumped?”

It made Ash think about what had happened and suddenly his heart couldn’t slow down. He almost felt like he couldn’t breathe. 

“Its alright. You’re safe.” Shorter murmured. “I can practically hear your heart racing. You’re not gonna pass out on me, are you?”

“No. I’m good.” It took Ash a minute to realize that Shorter knew about his racing heart because Shorter’s pinky finger had drifted down to rest on the side of his throat. He was taking Ash’s pulse.

“You gonna tell me who did this?” Obviously done with his work, Shorter moved around so he sat next to Ash on the bed instead of behind him.

Ash shook his head. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

“You’re lying.” Shorter put a hand on the back of Ash’s neck and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Shorter tilted his head down a little and looked at Ash over the top of his sunglasses. “Tell me who did this to you. I need to know.”

Ash didn’t want to. He didn’t even see why it mattered and if it did matter, then why would Shorter get involved? But Shorter just kept staring at Ash until Ash rolled his eyes and said, “God, you’re pushy. I don’t know who it was, alright? It was just a guy. I was walking down the street. Then this guy was there and he yanked me into an alley. He pushed me down and started hitting me with a baseball bat. Mostly he hit my feet.”

Shorter blinked. “He hit your feet? Why?”

“Don’t know. He just hit me and left.”

“He hit more than your feet. Your face is bruised all over and he must have hit the back of your head, too.” Shorter ran both hands over the top of his head. “So, this loony just attacked you and ran off?”

“Yeah.” Ash reached into his pocket and found nothing. “I think he stole my candy bar, too. Isn’t that weird? He must have been real hungry. Poor guy.”

“Ash, you are too much. So, what did this guy look like?”

Ash shrugged. “He had a beard, but it was all scraggly. His clothes were dirty and he smelled bad. He was short and his hair was red. He had a big nose ring, like a bull.”

“Right. That’s great. Let’s have a look at those feet. You said they were hurting, earlier.” He knelt down in front of Ash and carefully helped take off Ash’s shoes and socks, but then he went very still. “Jeeze, man.”

Ash’s feet were a miserable sight. They were bruised almost black and swollen horribly. Ash felt his stomach start to twist uncomfortably. “Do you think they’re broken?” Because if his feet were broken, if he was going to be unable to walk - and he sure couldn’t walk at that moment because of the pain - then Dino was going to have a freakin’ party! If he found out, he’d have Ash confined to a bed ‘for his own good, of course’ and he’d make sure he controlled every single thing Ash did until Ash could walk, again. He’d send only the food he wanted Ash to eat, he’d dress Ash every morning, and he’d probably think of a hundred other ways to control Ash’s life right down to the minute. He’d probably decide that he would only take Ash to the bathroom if Ash was a good and obedient boy. 

“I don’t know. Maybe a trip to the hospital would be a good idea.”

It was not a good idea. Hospitals had to report anything weird with kids and Ash didn’t want Dino to catch wind that social workers had gotten interested in Ash. So he shook his head at Shorter. “No. I’m good. I’m sure it’s not as bad as it looks.” It felt worse than it looked. When his shoes and socks had come off, he’d almost fainted from the pain.

Shorter looked skeptical and Ash didn’t blame him. His feet really were messed up. But Shorter was kind enough to drop the subject. “Look, I live here with my big sister. She’s working in the restaurant below, but she’ll be up soon. You need some sleep.” He started to unfolded the blankets he’d brought in the room with him and spread them over Ash. “You want something to eat?”

Ash didn’t really want to eat, but his stomach growled and Shorter laughed. “Just wait for me and I’ll get you a ‘Shorter’s Chinese Dinner Special’ and you’ll be wowed by my culinary prowess.”

Five minutes later, Shorter returned with a bowl, a spoon, and a glass of milk. Ash looked in the bowl he was handed, then raised an eyebrow at Shorter. “Cornflakes? What happened to ‘Shorter’s Chinese Dinner Special’?”

“Hey, this is a Chinese restaurant so whatever comes out of it is Chinese food. And it’s very special because that’s the last of the cereal. Therefore, it’s a ‘Shorter’s Chinese Dinner Special.’ Now, eat up and get some rest. I’ll come get the bowl later.” And Shorter left him. Later, after Ash had actually managed to sleep for a short while, Shorter reappeared. “That guy won’t bother you, again.”

“You killed him?”

“No, I had him taken to the local loony bin. You were right, he was crazy. And I don’t think he has any idea what he’s doing. So that’s taken care of. Now, you’ll stay here for a few days. This is the guest room, so you can be completely alone if you want to be. The bathroom is two doors down on the left. If you don’t think you can get there, let me know and I’ll help. I’ll bring some food from the kitchen when I get back.” He sat on the bed and pulled one of Ash’s feet up onto his lap and began a more careful examination of it. It didn’t feel or look broken, it looked crushed.

Ash looked at his wounded foot - how gross it looked! - and wondered at how Shorter handled it with so much care that Ash could hardly feel any pain. “Why are you doing this? All this?”

“’Cause I’m the Boss and your my guy.” Shorter said it without a trace of humor in his voice. “A good Boss always takes care of his guys.”

And Ash took that to heart.

End Memory-

Shorter would definitely have known how to tell The Avengers about HYDRA and Thema Shehata without putting Blanca at risk. He would be able to think of a reason why, when all they talked about was helping him and saving him, they hadn’t done a thing about Thema Shehata’s name being on Ash’s list. As much as he wanted to trust The Avengers, he couldn’t help but think what if they did know that woman’s name was on the list, but had chosen to ignore it because she was on the World Security Council and they had a great deal of influence over S.H.I.E.L.D. He didn’t think they do that, but the fact was that she hadn’t been arrested, there wasn’t even a clue about an investigation of her. 

Elsewhere-  
Phil-

They searched the city on foot as it was agreed by all that Ash was extremely unlikely to be just walking around in plain sight and if they drove around the city it would be too easy to miss him. And so Phil ran. He was in good condition, thankfully, as he ran to find Ash. Tony had J.A.R.V.I.S. check nearby security cameras for clues, but there was nothing to be found. They had no real idea where to look and the city was very big. The only real hint they had came from Eiji when Phil had contacted The Tower to let everyone know what had happened.

“Ash is very, very upset about Sing,” Eiji had said when Phil had asked if he had any idea where Ash might have gone. 

“You think he’s going after who did it?”

Eiji had hesitated then said, “Don’t know.”

It had been a lie. A poorly told lie, but a lie all the same. Phil couldn’t see the reason for the lie, at first. Eiji and Ash were so close that they almost seemed like a set of salt and pepper shakers. Surely, if Ash was putting himself in danger by... Phil dragged that train of thought to stop and reflected on what he had learned about Ash. Ash was a leader and tough by anyone’s standards. He was a gang leader and had controlled several large gangs in the city. He was armed and experienced using his weapon. He was accustomed to taking care of himself, Ibe-san had even told Phil point-blank that Ash wasn’t used to asking for help with anything. He was also wildly protective, given what Phil had seen of his interactions with Michael and how he’d only agreed to being protected if he could add Max’s family into the bargain. There was also the events of his horrible struggle to escape from the dominion of Dino Golzine which had resulted in Ash putting himself in danger to protect his friends. Given all that, it was entirely possible that Eiji didn’t think Ash was in any danger at all. Perhaps he wasn’t.

Regardless of whether or not Ash was putting himself in danger, they needed to find him. The only comfort Phil had was that it was Ash’s friends who had distracted them long enough for Ash to slip away and that told him clearly enough that Ash had left by choice and hadn’t been kidnapped. All the same, he kept thinking about what could happen to Ash while he was out of their protection.

‘Don’t think about it,’ he told himself when his imagination slipped over to various atrocities he’d seen during his military service as well as some things he’d seen while working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and taking care of his team. ‘Don’t think about what might happen to that boy. He’s gone though too much already and he’s still wounded. Max keeps saying that Ash is healing very quickly, but it’s only been a few days. And what if he does get attacked? If even one of his enemies knows that he’s the witness and sees him walking around unprotected it could be the end.’ And anyone who would have patronized a place like Club Cod certainly wouldn’t hesitate to push Ash into traffic or silence him in any number of ways.

There was a construction site. A large sign out front declared that it was the future site of a new bank. The whole place was surrounded with a chain-link fence, but Phil stopped and looked through the fence at the site on the off chance that Ash might have gone in there. He hadn’t, but with his thoughts centered on what threats Ash faced on his own, Phil saw a pile of bricks, a few rebars leaning against a saw horse, and a shovel on the ground near a large cement mixer. There were so many things in there, just laying around, that could be used to kill.

Thud.

Thud.

Phil’s heart was pounding enough that he could nearly hear it. He started rushing down the sidewalk, again, and tapped the communicator in his ear. “Any luck?”

Everyone answered in at once that they hadn’t seen Ash. Natasha added, “I just checked the place where Tony and Bruce met Ash’s friends, but there’s no one there.”

“I went to his condo and it’s empty,” Clint told them. 

“What about his little apartment?” Steve asked. “Phil, you said he took you to a little place that was all run down when you first learned that he was the witness. Anyone check there?”

“No.” Phil considered where everyone was in the city and said, “Steve, you’re actually closest, so you check it out, but don’t go in if you don’t have to. I don’t know if the police are still collecting evidence there or not.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “Easily checked, Phil. I will contact Captain Jenkins and inform him about the situation. He will tell us if Steve may go into the apartment.”

Steve’s voice answered, “Right. I’m on my way, if you tell me the address, Phil, I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

Phil gave Steve the address and continued his own search. He looked into each building he passed, into every alley, and even asked several police officers if they’d seen anyone fitting Ash’s description, but there was no luck. 

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

His heart raced faster the longer he went without word of Ash. It was a big city and Ash was very comfortable in it. He’d lived most of his life on the streets and Phil had the very real fear that Ash could do exactly what he’d threatened to do in the hospital when he’d insisted that Max and his family accept protection from the Avengers, too.

Ash had said, “Either you all take the protection, too, or I vanish.”

Max had glared at Ash. “Don’t you dare!”

“You think I won’t? I can walk out of this building today and you won’t see me until the day of the trial. Give me two minutes and I can disappear in this city. Blanca’s still in town, too. He’ll help me.”

Yes, Phil entirely believed that Ash could make himself disappear, even with The Avengers looking for him. Given time, Natasha and Bruce could have probably found him, but they needed to have Ash found immediately, if not sooner.

Phil’s cell phone rang and he stopped long enough to catch his breath for a moment and answer it. “Hello.”

“Phil!” It was Max. “Look, we tried Ash’s cell phone and he’s okay. He told Jessica that he just wanted to take a walk. He’s fine, but he didn’t tell us where he is.”

Phil felt his shoulders slump with relief and his heart began to slow to an easier pace. “Thank goodness. We’re going to keep up the search. If he wants to be alone, we’ll just have him watched from a distance, but I don’t feel at all good having him out there alone.”

They each hung up and Phil contacted his team with the new information. Everyone agreed that they ought to keep looking for Ash, just in case. Ash wasn’t at his small apartment, they found out. After some time, Phil checked in with his team and all seemed well until Bruce didn’t reply when Phil tried to reach him. Phil’s pace slowed when he tried to contract Bruce a second time and there was still no answer. He didn’t like silence from his team.

“Everyone,” he announced. “I’m getting nothing but silence from Bruce.”

“Where was he last?” Tony asked, sharply.

“He was fine five minutes ago,” Natasha said. Her voice was steady and calm, but Phil knew well enough that she was not. “Orders, please?”

“Natasha and Tony look for Bruce...” he hadn’t even finished speaking when he heard the deep, distinctive roar of Hulk. “Strike that. You two go look for Hulk. Be careful, something must have set him off. He doesn’t sound happy. Clint and Steve, keep looking for Ash. Everyone keep in contact.” Because if there was one thing Phil really, really hated, it was the rare occasions when his team went radio silent and he simply had to sit around and wait to see if they would make it out of the mission alive.

It wasn’t more than five minutes before Tony’s voice came back through the communicator, “I’ve got eyes on Hulk. He’s jumping around the city like a giant green rabbit and I think he’s carrying Ash over his shoulder like an old rug and... oh. Hulk just landed in Central Park and he’s not coming out, again. I’m going in to search on foot.” It was one of the very few terrains where Iron Man wasn’t well suited. The densest part of the park was a forest where it was hard to safely fly, especially as Tony worried about accidentally hurting other people, but that was exactly the sort of place Hulk liked to be.

The very minute that Tony’s announcement sounded through the communicator Phil wore, Phil breathed a sigh of relief. “Is Ash hurt?”

“I can’t tell, but he was moving around. Give me a minute to find them.”

“I’ll be there soon,” Phil promised. “Everyone, you heard him. Go to Central Park and start looking around.”

To Be Continued...


	27. Overjoyed

Chapter 27: Overjoyed

Earlier, while Ash went to the Condo with Phil and Tony...

Thema Shehata-

The sharp ‘tap’ of her shoes on the sidewalk rang out with every step. The crowds of people on the sidewalk paid her no attention at all, as if she were nothing more than a harried woman late for a business meeting. She slipped around people easily and made good time. There was no reason at all for her to be noticed. She’d dressed to look as common and ordinary as possible.

As she walked, her mind was, of course, fixed on the troubles of Banana Fish or, more appropriately, Gregory. Because, really, Gregory was the problem. She needed the Banana Fish. She couldn’t wait any longer. Sitwell was watching her. She hadn’t seen him since their last confrontation, but she knew he was watching. There were others from HYRDA, too, all of them lurking around. There had been messages left - letters slipped under the door of her home, a note tucked under the windshield wiper of her car, ominously brief messages on her cellphone - and she knew her time was running out. Her superiors were getting impatient with her progress and her people had made no further ground in finding Blanca. It wasn’t as if she could go out and find him. She might be killed. It was rumored that Blanca was an equal-opportunity killer, women were just as at risk from him as men.

She went into the first jewelry store she spotted. The store was small, but clean and had an air of quality about it. There was only one room in the story with glass display cases to hold the jewelry, bright lighting, and several sales people dressed sharply in black. She looked around the store and saw necklaces and bracelets, earrings and pins, watches and hair decorations. Her eyes landed on a small display in the center of the store and she smiled when she saw the rings.

“May I help you, ma’am?” A young man smiled, very professional and completely fake, when he stepped over to her. “Looking for something in particular or would you care to browse?”

Thema hardly took her eyes off the display of rings. “I need two gold rings.”

“Of course. Have you considered what sort of gem you might like on it? Or combination of gems? Opals are very popular at the...”

“No gems. Nothing. They need to be plain. And a chain.” She paused. Gregory hadn’t said what sort of chain Blanca wore the rings on, only that he wore them around his neck. “A gold necklace. Do you do engravings?”

“Of course. It will be an extra charge, of course.”

“And a rush job? Can you have it done today?”

“Ah... well, that’s highly unusual...”

“I’ll give you a five hundred dollar tip if you can have it done today.”

“Of course! It’s always a pleasure to serve our customers. The price will be steep for such an uncommon request.”

“Naturally. The price doesn’t concern me.” She took out her cellphone and did a quick internet search for cyrillic writing. She picked a few random words and showed it to the salesman. “Copy that. I want those engraved on the rings.”

He raised an eyebrow, but his training was very good because he smiled and agreed without question. He used a small note pad and a pen to copy what was on the screen of Thema’s cellphone and, after showing it to her and getting her approval, he tucked it in his pocket. He found two plain gold rings she agreed to buy, though he did raise his eyebrow, again, when she didn’t bother to try them on, and a gold chain. She paid in cash and left the shop with a promise to return in five hours.

She would show Gregory the rings and demand to see the Banana Fish. The minute he produced it, she would kill him and take it. The rings only had to be good enough to fool him from a distance. It was such a simple plan that she regretted not thinking of it earlier and sparing herself the trouble of going after Blanca. 

The Avengers’ Tower-  
Eiji-

A very short time after Eiji had told his friends and The Avengers what he’d seen on the camera of the drone, that he’d seen Gregory alive and armed and angry, Ash had left. He wanted his reading glasses, so he had gone back to the condo with both Agent Coulson and Mister Stark as his guards. It was worrisome, though, because Eiji was sure Ash had been lying about something, but he hadn’t known what.

In the bathroom of Max and Jessica’s apartment in The Avenger’s Tower, Eiji stood in front of the mirror, his hands braced tightly on the sink, his white knuckles the only sign of his tension. “It’s alright,” he told himself. “I’m fine. Everyone is safe. Ash will be fine. I trust him.”

But Gregory was out there.

“I am healing very well. Ash is doing better than I am. We are going to be fine.”

Gregory had snarled at the drone’s camera and raised his gun. A blast of light before darkness when the drone was ruined.

“He will be found. He’ll be found and he’ll be put on trial for what he did because he always knew what Golzine was doing to Ash and he never tried to stop it. He’ll be put in prison and that will be the end of it.”

But Gregory had looked right at the drone’s camera before he’d shot it and it had felt as if he’d been looking straight at Eiji and he feared those eyes. Those hate-filled, angry eyes... big hands holding him down... tearing his shirt...

“Excuse me,” J.A.R.VI.S.’ voice broke through the memory and Eiji blinked. He was alone in the bathroom, still staring at his face. “Mister Okumura, I will not pry when people are using restroom facilities unless it is an emergency, but you have been in there for nearly a half-an-hour. Do you require assistance?”

“No. No, I’m fine.” Eiji took a minute to rub his face. He had to be fine because Ash was hurting and worried and stressed and Eiji needed to be strong for him. He did not need to breakdown and give Ash one more person to worry about. “Sorry for the worry.”

“It’s no trouble. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable here? I understand that circumstances are difficult at the moment, but if I can help you, I will.”

Eiji turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on his face. “I am very comfortable here, thank you. And thank you for helping to take care of Ash. He told me you played Go with him. I think it’s hard for him to find people who can challenge him. I’m not good enough to play with him. I tried once, but I think I bored him. He didn’t say that, but I just couldn’t keep up. Sometimes, it seems like his mind is moving on paths I can’t even see. He’s so amazing. He’s like no one else on Earth.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “I enjoyed playing with Ash. He has an excellent understanding of strategy, but is unafraid to take risks.”

It made Eiji laugh. “That’s Ash in a nutshell!” Eiji left the restroom and went into the main part of the little apartment. It was empty. Everyone was out or busy. Eiji sat on the couch and tilted his head back to look at the ceiling as he thought about Ash’s lie. Ash did need reading glasses, that much was true enough, but he was lying about something. Eiji knew. He could tell when Ash was lying, but he couldn’t figure out what he was lying about.

Ash lied a lot. Eiji wasn’t blind to that fact. He had known Ash for quite a long while and believed that he knew Ash well enough to know a lie when he heard it. However, he also knew that Ash didn’t lie without good reason. He had stood in the common room of the home of heroes and listened silently as Ash had changed the subject entirely away from the fact that Gregory had been seen - 

Dark eyes glared down at him... hands pulling at his shirt as he’d cursed and yelled... His hands were tied to the bed’s headboard... Golzine’s bed was soft...

\- and told everyone he needed his reading glasses. No one had questioned Ash. Even Max, whom Eiji knew was a very intelligent man who could usually spot Ash’s little tricks a mile away, was so concerned for Ash’s wellbeing that he had taken Ash at his word. So they had left the tower and Eiji had not called Ash on the lie. He wouldn’t do that, certainly not in front of a crowd of people. Maybe if they’d had a moment to be alone before Ash had left The Tower, but that hadn’t happened and Eiji hadn’t been able to think of an excuse to get Ash discretely away from the others. But even if he had been able to get Ash alone, he wasn’t entirely sure he would have asked about the lie. He trusted Ash. Trusted him far too much, sometimes, because Ash was so very careful, meticulous in everything he did, except caring about himself. When it came to taking care of himself, Ash was rather irresponsible. So perhaps Eiji shouldn’t trust him so completely, but... he did.

“Ei-chan?” Ibe-san came out of Max and Jessica’s bedroom sat next to him on the sofa. “You look like you want to cry. Is your wound bothering you, again?”

“No. The painkillers work very well. I’m alright.”

But Ibe-san gave him a sympathetic smile. “You’re worried about Ash, aren’t you?”

“He can take care of himself. I know he can. I just wish there was more I could do to help him.” Eiji leaned forward a little and put his elbows on his knees as he covered his face with his hands. “When I lived with him in his condo, he told me I helped him, but I always seemed to be just hanging around and slowing him down.”

“You don’t just slow him down,” Ibe-san said, confidently. “He is happy when you are around.”

“Maybe, but I need to do something useful.” Eiji finally looked up and found that Ibe-san was still smiling at him. Typical. Ibe-san was filled to the brim with compassion. “I don’t like just ‘being’ here. I want to do something.”

It suddenly occurred to Eiji that Yut-Lung needed to know that Gregory had been seen, that he was alive and on the loose and probably very, very angry. Yut-Lung had to know because he’d been there too, that terrible night when Golzine had them all in his grasp and when Yut-Lung had been...

Eiji stopped that train of thought before the memory could fully form. He didn’t want to think about it.

There was a knock on the door and J.A.R.V.I.S. announced, “Steve is at the door. Would you like to allow him in?”

“A guest?” Eiji stood up and answered the door and, just as J.A.R.V.I.S. had said, Captain America stood at the door and smiled, holding a large notebook in front of him. He was big, much taller than Ash and broad enough that he nearly filled the doorway. “Hello. Please, come in.”

“Sorry if I’m disturbing you, these rooms are meant to be private for Mister Glenreed and his family, so I can leave if I’m bothering you.”

He sounded so earnest, so honestly worried that he’d be shooed out that Eiji was stunned. He had grown up listening to his grandparents telling stories of Captain America and he had always seemed bigger than life. Strong and sure and victorious in all things. To see him with a nervous look on his face... Eiji almost laughed. It was hard to see Steve as Captain America when he seemed so... normal.

“You are very welcome here. Please, you are helping to take care of our friends and I know very well that Ash requires a great deal of ‘taking care of’ so please feel at home, Captain America.” Because anyone who wanted to protect Ash was clearly a good and noble person, in Eiji’s book.

“Please, call me ‘Steve’.” Steve smiled and it was such a genuine thing that Eiji wanted to get his camera. “Thank you. I heard that Ibe-san is a photographer so I came to ask if I could see his work.” He held up his notebook. “And I brought some sketches... if you’d like to see?” The last he asked Ibe-san. “If I see your art, it’s only fair that I share some with you.” But his cheer wobbled a bit when he admitted, “I’m not very good, though. It’s only my scribbles. I’m not a professional and I never went to school for art.”

Ibe-san took no notice of Steve’s sudden self-doubt and brightened at the offer. “I’d be honored to see your work! Let me get my samples.”

When Ibe-san had left the room, Steve looked questioningly at Eiji. “Samples?”

“Ibe-san is a professional so he carries samples if he needs to convince a potential client that his work is good. Trust me - his work IS good.” And he wasn’t going to pass up on a chance to brag about Ibe-san. Partly because Ibe-san had always been so kind and supportive to him, but mostly because Eiji really did believe that his teacher was the best photographer to be had. “Mister Rogers,” Eiji said, tentatively. “Ash went out with Agent Coulson and Mister Stark. They can keep him safe, right? It’s just... there are so many bad people who want to hurt Ash. He’s been fighting for a long time. And I have heard about Iron Man, but Mister Stark wasn’t wearing that suit.”

It was as if a switched had been flipped. Steve stood a little straighter and put a big, reassuring hand on Eiji’s shoulder. “I can assure you that Phil and Tony are more than capable of defending Ash if anyone attacks. Phil is a highly trained, experienced fighter and Tony isn’t just Iron Man. He’s incredibly smart, so he can think his way out of a lot of trouble without needing to be Iron Man. And if he needs to, Tony can become Iron Man in only moments. Right, J.A.R.V.I.S.?”

“Yes, Steve. At the first hint of danger, I can send the Iron Man suit to Sir, no matter where he is in the city. Please, don’t worry, Mister Okumura. Sir is very serious about seeing this mission through to a successful conclusion.”

Eiji nodded and felt his heart lighten at the reassurance.

Ibe-san returned to them, with his laptop which he happily opened and started to get ready. “My portfolio is a little too big to travel with, but some of my favorite work is in here. I have some excellent shots of Ei-chan, too.” He gave Eiji a teasing grin. “Ash said he wanted to see you jump.”

“Ibe-san!”

“Don’t be embarrassed. You know he admires you very much.” Then he looked at Steve. “Ei-chan was a pole vaulter, one of the best in the world, and Ash really wanted to see the photograph I took of Ei-chan flying over the pole.”

And in less than five minutes, Steve and Ibe-san were sitting together on the couch, talking like old friends. They had a plate of cookies and cups of coffee and were chatting and laughing so comfortably. Ibe-san had that sort of effect on people. He made everyone so comfortable. Eiji stayed quiet and still and just listened.

“Max is speaking with Ash’s lawyer and Jessica is in their room working on an article,” Ibe-san said when Steve asked after them. “She can’t publish anything until all the legal proceedings have finished, but when it’s done, she is planning to do a lot of publishing.”

They spent some pleasant time browsing leisurely though Ibe-san’s favorite photographs and then a little more time flipping through the notebook Steve drew in. Both Ibe-san and Steve seemed very happy and Eiji decided it was time for him to leave. He was just about to excuse himself when a shriek rang out so suddenly that Eiji almost dropped his coffee. Steve was the first one on his feet, but Jessica charged from her room into the room where Michael slept. They found her there, sitting on Michael’s bed with him curled up on her lap.

Jessica looked up when they peeked into the room and she whispered, “He was having a nap and had another nightmare. He’s fine.” She kissed Michael on the temple. “Honey, you’re safe here. I promise. Daddy wouldn’t have brought us here if it wasn’t safe. There’s nothing to be scared of. I promise.”

“I don’t wanna go home.” Michael sniffled, miserably. “I don’t wanna go back to California and our house.”

Jessica took a deep breath and, with the patient attitude of a person who’d explained it all before and would keep doing it for however long it took, she said, “We’re not going back. That’s not home anymore. Remember? We sold that house so we could live here with daddy.”

“I don’t like it here, either. Everything’s scary and there’s people everywhere and you’re gonna get hurt!” He said the last with a wail and sobbed on his mom’s shoulder. “They’re gonna come back. I saw them. They’re coming back.”

“It’s was a nightmare. Just a bad dream. I promise it wasn’t real. Those people aren’t coming back.” Jessica looked like she wanted to cry, too. She held Michael and rocked him, muttering reassurances to him until he fell back to sleep.

“He still has bad dreams. About the...” she looked at Ibe-san. “The ‘you know’. I don’t know what to do. He won’t talk to anyone. He’s scared that we’ll go back to California, but that won’t happen. That house... where it happened... I think the nightmares would only get worse if we went back.” Her voice soft, softer than Eiji had ever heard her speak. “I won’t take him back there. Never. I’ll go anywhere else in the world, but not back to that house.”

“I know it’s not my place,” Eiji said. “But, if he feels unsafe, is there a way to make him feel safe? He seems very concerned that you’re going to be hurt.”

“He is. He needs to know where Max and I are all the time. He wants to be with us all the time. Thankfully, he seems to have expanded that into being with Ash, too. I don’t know what else to do to make him feel safe. Coming to New York was a big upheaval, but I was hoping a change of scenery would help. There aren’t any bad memories for him here. But nothing’s changed. The condo was good because Ash gave Max the only key so Michael knew only his dad could get in. There are so many people here, though - ” Jessica winced and looked apologetically at Steve. “Sorry. I’m very grateful that you’re helping Ash, but...” she held Michael a little tighter. “I need to be able to take care of both of the boys, but I don’t know how. I just don’t know...”

“It seems to be a mighty hard problem.” Steve looked at Jessica with such compassion, such deep understanding, that Eiji did believe Steve truly did understand. He slipped into the room and knelt on the floor next to Michael’s bed. “And I don’t know much about how to help him, but if Michael wants to feel safer, I’d be happy to show him a little bit of self-defense.”

Jessica looked up, sharply. She lay Michael back down in his bed and covered him up with a blanket. Then she led them all out of the room and closed the door before she said, “I don’t want him fighting! He wouldn’t like it. He hates it when people get hurt. Look at what happened when he saw Ash get hurt - Michael thought the world was ending!”

“No,” Steve hurried to reassure her. “Not fighting. Not really fighting, just being able to protect himself. When I was young, I was a real scrawny thing and I got in a lot of scrapes. My buddy taught me a few tricks so I could take care of myself. Stuff a little guy can use against people bigger than himself.” He shrugged self-consciously. “I don’t know if it’ll help, but it might.”

All the defensiveness was reined in and Jessica got a thoughtful look on her face. She ran a hand over Michael’s hair. “That might be a good idea. I have sisters and when I was very little one of them was kidnapped. I was terrified. My parents ended up sending me to a self-defense class and it helped.” She gave Steve a little smile. “Thank you.”

And then J.A.R.V.I.S. made the announcement that Agent Coulson and Mister Stark had reported that Ash had disappeared. All hands were needed to go after him. Steve ran out of the room with nothing more than a hurried, “Don’t worry, we’ll find him.”

After that, it was a flurry of activity. The Avengers went out to look for Ash, Max was a mix of worry and anger, and Jessica eventually asked, “Did anyone try his cellphone?” When she was met with silence, she pulled out her own and started to dial. “I bought him one, he better still have it on him.” She finished dialing and held the phone to her ear, flicking her long hair over one shoulder with her free hand, a decidedly anxious move. A moment later, “Where the Hell are you?!” Eiji watched as Jessica paused and Ash must have said something because she snapped at him, “Don’t you pull that with me, Brat! Phil just contacted everyone here and he said you vanished and no one knows where you are! Where are you? Are you hurt?” Jessica was quiet for a minute. “A walk? You wanted to take a walk?! You can’t just... leave. Max is beside himself. Just about everyone went out to look for you before we could remind them that you have a phone. Come back.” Again, another pause. “It’s alright, Brat. Just... be safe. I’ll try to contact The Avengers and let them know you’re alright, but don’t be surprised if they keep looking for you. Be safe.” Ash must have said something because she looked at Eiji and smiled. “Sure. Hold on.” And she handed the phone to Eiji.

“Ash?”

Ash sounded as cool as ever. “I’m here.”

They talked about nothing, but it was enough to assure Eiji that Ash was whole and healthy and had gone out on his own accord. He hung up the phone and handed it back to Jessica.

“I need to go out.” Max, Jessica, and Ibe-san all protested, but Eiji insisted. “There’s something I need to do. I promise I will be very careful, but I need to do something. I have to go visit Sing.”

Naturally, he couldn’t go alone.

Ibe-san went with Eiji and though J.A.R.V.I.S. had insisted that Mister Stark wouldn’t mind a bit if they used one of the cars, neither Eiji nor Ibe-san were comfortable being responsible for one of the high-priced cars Mister Stark kept in his garage. Ibe-san told J.A.R.V.I.S., thank you, but if anything were to happen to them, I would never be able to repay Mister Stark. We can take the bus.” In the elevator they took to get to the ground floor, Ibe-san began counting out change to make sure he had enough to pay for a bus ride. “The hospital isn’t that far away. Ei-chan, are you sure you’re alright with just the cane? I can still get the wheelchair.”

“I don’t need the wheelchair, but thank you. Really, I feel like I need to stretch and get some exercise.” And maybe, just a little part of him, had learned from Ash that shows of weakness were to be avoided at all costs because you never knew when someone would take advantage of them.

“I really must object. Taking one of Sir’s cars will be far safer and even if one does get accidentally damaged, he won’t ask for repayment.” And J.A.R.V.I.S. continued on that line all the while they went down in the elevator and only stopped once they went into the lobby and found Mister Stark’s driver waiting for them. With Mister Hogan ready and waiting for them, they finally accept the ride.

***

Mister Hogan waited for them in the car while Eiji and Ibe-san went into the hospital to find Sing. There was something about hospitals that made Eiji want to be quiet. Eventually, they found him, but in a different room than he’d been in the last time Eiji had gone to the hospital with Ash. The new room was very nice and Sing didn’t have a roommate. The room was big with a large window that let in a lot of light. There was some art on the walls and two large, comfortable chairs. Clearly, it was a private room.

“Hello, Eiji. Ibe-san.” Nadia stood from where she’d been sitting at Sing’s side. She didn’t look well. Her skin was very pale and there were dark circles under her eyes. Worry for Sing was clearly affecting her, but all the same, she smiled. “There’s a little hope. Since your visit, his doctor said he’s doing much better.”

Sing didn’t look better. He looked the same as before, but if there was any hope, Eiji would take it. He liked Sing, very much. Sing was what Eiji could imagine a younger Shorter might have been like - brave, charismatic, and good - and to see him like that was almost painful. Eiji wished he’d brought a gift. He should have brought something. “Miss Wong, I need to contact Lee Yut-Lung. Do you have his phone number.”

“No. I’m sorry, but I don’t. I can get it as soon as I go back home, but I don’t have it on me.”

“That’s alright, Thank you.” His shoulders slumped. “Is there any news about who did this to Sing?”

“No. Only what I told Ash about Sing’s cellphone.”

“What about the cellphone?”

Nadia opened her mouth to answer, but there was the sound of footsteps outside the door, many footsteps and voices that were too loud for a hospital. The door swung open and a man peered in. Behind him, Eiji could see six other people, all of them dressed in black and all of them visibly armed. The man who’d opened the door took one look at Sing, then gave them a curt, “Sorry. Wrong room.” And he left, letting the door close behind him. Again, they all heard loud voices and heavy footsteps. 

Eiji went to the door and looked out. He watched as the people in black opened another door. That room, they went in. A nurse was hustled, protesting, out of the room. 

The nurse spotted a doctor just beyond Sing’s room and ran down the hall. “Doctor! There are six S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents in room 247 and they’re taking the patient! They said they have orders and...”

The doctor waved a hand, as if to dismiss the nurse’s worry. “They do have orders and we have instructions to let them do as they please. The patient is a suspected HYDRA agent and involved in that building that exploded, so S.H.I.E.L.D. will deal with him. I was on my way here to get you out of their way, but it seems I didn’t move fast enough.” The doctor looked over the nurse’s shoulder and said, “Look out. Here they come.” And the both of them stood to one side of the hall.

The people in black escorted a man out of room 247. He was in a wheelchair and, when they passed Eiji, he saw that the man was handcuffed to the wheelchair. His face was set in a dark scowl. They wasted no time and in seconds, the hall was empty.

Eiji was only then aware that Ibe-san was watching with him. “Do you think that was the blown-up building Ash and I saw?”

“I think it must be,” Ibe-san answered. “What’s the world coming to? A terrorist right down the hall?” Then he looked at Nadia. “Look, why don’t you have a break? You look worn down. I’m sure Sing would want you to take care of yourself. Would you like something to eat?”

“That’s a great idea, Ibe-san,” Eiji added in. “I’ll sit with Sing and you two can go get something for yourselves in the cafeteria.”

“Oh, you don’t have to...”

Ibe-san told her, “I know, but you look like you could do with a little fresh air and some food. I should have brought something with me, but I didn’t think about that. Please, this is my treat.” It took a little more convincing to get Nadia away from Sing’s side and go to the hospital’s cafeteria with Ibe-san. Eiji knew then that she would not be leaving until Sing was well and whole.

No more than two minutes had passed since they’d left the room when the door opened, again, but instead of a bunch of people dressed in black, there stood Yut-Lung in the doorway looking like Eiji had never seen him before wearing blue jeans, a red t-shirt, and his hair all tucked up under a hat, Yut-Lung held what looked like a coil of thin wire tied up with a red ribbon tied into a bow. He saw Eiji the exact moment that Eiji saw him and the look on his face proclaimed loudly and without any shame, exactly how much disdain he had for Eiji. 

Yut-Lung looked down his nose at Eiji. “So... still alive?”

Eiji stood up as straight as possible, though that still left him a tiny bit shorter than Yut-Lung. “So, still a jerk?”

Both boys sniffed and turned away from each other, but that didn’t stop Yut-Lung. He walked in without invitation and went straight to Sing. He looked carefully at Sing’s face, then at each of the machines Sing was hooked up to, as if he could understand what information they were displaying. Perhaps he could. Just because Eiji couldn’t understand, didn’t mean anything and Ash had hinted that he believed Yut-Lung had some sort of medical training considering how well he was apparently able to understand drugs, poisons, and other such little details. So it was entirely possible that he really did understand what he was looking at.

“I can assure you - you’re not needed here.” Yut-Lung finally stood up from where he’d been leaning over to look at one of the machines. “Sing is getting the best treatment money can buy and he will lack for nothing.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “And you can tell Ash Lynx that I am ensuring that Nadia Wong is taken care of, as well.”

“I didn’t come here because I thought Sing was lacking something.” The real reason Eiji had come to the hospital was actually Yut-Lung, himself. However, he had been hoping to get the phone number from Nadia and just give Yut-Lung a call. Standing face-to-face with Yut-Lung made Eiji nearly forget why he’d gone to the hospital as he was set entirely on edge. He didn’t like Yut-Lung and he expected that he never would. Of course, that didn’t mean that he actually hated him or anything, he just didn’t like him.

He had gone there to visit with Sing and Nadia, but also to contact Yut-Lung and there he was, right in front of Eiji, and all Eiji wanted to do was punch him in the nose because he was the one who’d drugged Ibe-san and kidnapped Eiji and taken Shorter to Dino and... and...

Memory-

“Take deep breaths,” Yut-Lung advised when Gregory had finally left the room and it was only him and Eiji, waiting. Yut-Lung started to undress. “I have heard Golzine likes his boys calm, so try not to cry.” His eyes were sad when he spoke, but he didn’t look at Eiji where he was tied up and completely naked. “Try to be composed and it’ll probably be over soon.” He did glance at Eiji, then. Without his clothes, it was painfully obvious how very skinny Yut-Lung was. There was something distinctly fragile looking about him, all sharp angles and too pale skin. Eiji had never been so skinny, even when he’d been very young. He’d been all baby-fat until he’d discovered athletics and taken to track and field. Running and jumping and even weigh lifting had transformed the baby-fat into lean, hard muscle and even after his injury, when he hadn’t been capable of competing, he’d never stopped working out. To him, Yut-Lung almost looked sick.

He felt vulnerable with Yut-Lung staring at him and he looked away. The shame and fear of being there, helpless and naked, tied down and waiting for Golzine to arrive was like a massive weight on Eiji’s chest. Then there was the equally painful fear for whatever was happening to Shorter. Had he been killed? Was he tied to a bed somewhere? He felt like he could hardly breathe. His eyes burned with tears he refused to let fall and he was angry. Furious! All this pain and torment and all because of Golzine, all for his greed and his power.

A blanket was draped over him and he looked up at once. Yut-Lung stood over him, his face unreadable. “No reason for you to be uncomfortable.” When the sound of footsteps neared the door and the door handle began to turn, Yut-Lung softly added, “We’ll both be uncomfortable enough in a minute.”

End Memory-

Yut-Lung needed to know. Eiji wouldn’t let him be caught by surprise like that. “Look, I didn’t come here to argue. I thought you should know.” Eiji forced himself to look right at Yut-Lung when he spoke. “We saw Gregory on video a short while ago. He’s still out there and he’s armed.”

Yut-Lung rolled his eyes. “I know that. I’ve already had a phone call from Ash. You’re just as dim as ever, aren’t you? You’re going to have to try harder if you want to keep up with the people around you.”

“I don’t know how anyone stands to be around you! I’m trying to help, can’t you just accept it?”

“No. I can’t. I don’t want you here and...”

There was a soft groan and both Eiji and Yut-Lung froze. As one, they turned to look down at Sing. Another groan. Sing’s eyes fluttered open. He looked around room before he looked at Eiji and Yut-Lung. Sing whispered, “Too noisy.” Then he closed his eyes and fell back to sleep.

Eiji’s heart felt as if it were standing still. Astonished, he looked up at Yut-Lung and their eyes met. And then, in a move that would later stun Eiji when he stopped to think about it, they smiled at each other, overjoyed for Sing’s sake.

Elsewhere-  
Gregory-

There was always construction going on. Gregory should know - Papa Dino had owned several of the construction companies in the city. So he broke into one of the construction sites.

“What are you doing here?” He was interrupted by someone who looked too mature for the street gangs and too young to be one of Dino’s goons. A worker, then, just there getting his job done, but he appeared to be the only one on the site.

Gregory shot him.

Finding the grinder was reasonably easy. He set down the metal suitcase and used the grinder to cut through the melted lock. It took time, but, eventually, he had the whole lock cut and removed. The metal suitcase opened easily and when he looked inside, he saw all the papers, computer thumb drives, and - most importantly - two glass vials of clear liquid.

Gregory picked up one vial and held it between two fingers as he lifted it up and looked at it with the light behind him. A slow smile spread across his face.

To Be Continued...


	28. Trust

Chapter 28: Trust

Yut-Lung-

A short while after Sing had briefly woken up Yut-Lung left the hospital and headed back to the mansion. He had a long walk ahead of him, but he didn’t regret it a bit. Sing was going to live. He would be alright. There was absolutely nothing to worry about and Yut-Lung found himself smiling. Life would have been darker without Sing. He felt like he could breathe easier. Nadia Wong had been so happy when she’d heard that Sing had woken up for a moment that she’d hugged Eiji and, shockingly, Yut-Lung.

His phone rang and Yut-Lung was in such a good mood that he answered it straight away rather than letting the person on the other end of the line wait and wasn’t really all that shocked when it was Fan on the other end.

“Sir, you really must tell me when you’re going out! I couldn’t find you and you hadn’t told any of the servants where you were going.”

Yut-Lung didn’t let Fan’s temper sour his mood. “I don’t have to check in with anyone when I want to go places. What’s the point of being head of the family if I have to ask permission for things?”

“Sir, it’s my job to protect you.”

“Hardly a pressing issue at the moment. I do have some excellent news - Sing woke up and I have a very good feeling about his recovery. I want to make sure he has what he needs to comfortably recover at his home.”

Fan chuckled. “It’s heart-warming to hear how concerned you are for Master Sing.”

“Don’t be absurd. Concern? The next thing you’ll be saying is that I care what happens to him. No. Of course not. That’s silly. Sing’s useful, that’s all. He’s essential to my plans for stabilizing Chinatown. There’s nothing more to it than that.”

“Of course, sir.”

“Don’t go getting all sentimental. It’s not as if he’s my friend.” Really, Yut-Lung had no idea at all where Fan got such ideas. Any concern he showed for Sing was nothing more than good business. Honestly. “And send him some sweets. He likes peppermints, I think.”

“Yes, sir. And since you have made it thoroughly clear that you don’t care a bit about Master Sing, would you like me to arrange to have clean clothing and toiletries sent to him to make his hospital stay more comfortable?”

“Of course. That would be -”

Someone slammed into Yut-Lung so hard that he was knocked clear off his feet and sent crashing to the ground. His phone was knocked out of his hand and he had only just enough presence of mind to catch himself before he slammed into the wall of a bakery he’d been walking by. He kept still for a moment, distressingly reminded of the many times Wang-Lung had been upset and had knocked him to the ground just because he could, then surged to his feet.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” Yut-Lung demanded.

But the attacker was still on the sidewalk. He was young, but no younger than Yut-Lung, and was slim with fine features. His hair was blonde and bright as sunlight. The attacker got himself off the ground, but didn’t stand. He sat on his knees and looked sadly at the palms of his hands, scraped from the fall, no doubt. He sniffed pitifully and looked up at Yut-Lung with wide, teary eyes. “My hands hurt.”

Yut-Lung looked, again, at the boy’s hands and saw that the scrapes weren’t all that serious. There wasn’t even any blood. “You’ll be fine. Who are you and what do you mean knocking people over? Why don’t you watch where you’re going?”

The boy’s lower lip wobbled and when he spoke, his voice was small and frightened. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I was scared and I was running. I wanna go home. Please, help me. Please? I’m Peter. Please help. I’ll be good. I wanna go home. Papa’s gonna be so mad at me.” He reached out and lightly put a hand on Yut-Lung’s shoe. “Please?”

Yut-Lung blinked and felt entirely lost. He suddenly regretted very much going to the hospital alone because it was certain that anyone else would have known how to handle the situation better than he did. “Well... where is home?”

Again, another miserable sniff. “I don’t know.”

“Ah. Then what’s your papa’s phone number? Perhaps he can come fetch you.”

“I don’t know. I’m sorry. Don’t be mad, please. I gotta go home.”

Yut-Lung looked around. The sidewalks were busy with people going here and there, but not one of them stopped to help. Some few took a glance at Peter where he sat crying on the ground, but they quickly looked away and continued on. And Yut-Lung thought, not for the first time in his life, that people were garbage. When he looked back at the boy, Peter’s eyes were entirely focused on Yut-Lung and, strangely, Yut-Lung felt both big, because clearly Peter had put all of his hopes in help from Yut-Lung, and very small, because he knew he was going to somehow disappoint Peter.

‘What would Blanca do?’ But even as he asked himself that, he couldn’t imagine what Blanca would do if he met a needy, vulnerable teenager... he’d probably teach them to shoot or something. ‘What would Sing do?’ Sing would give the boy to Nadia Wong. But Nadia Wong was occupied at the hospital, so that wasn’t much help. Finally, because Peter kept watching him with those big, hopeful blue eyes, Yut-Lung gave a great sigh. “Oh, do stop the crying! That never helps anything. Get up and I’ll get you some food.” He paused when he heard Peter’s stomach growl. “Quite a lot of food, I think.”

And Peter smiled. It was a beautiful sight, full of innocence and light and Yut-Lung knew that he had never smiled that way in his life. Peter was on his feet in a flash and, before Yut-Lung knew what was happening, Peter threw his arms around Yut-Lung in warm hug. “Thank you!”

For a moment, Yut-Lung just stood there. He wasn’t a hugger. Nadia Wong’s hug earlier had stunned him and to get two hugs in one day? It was unnerving. He gave Peter a brusque pat on the back, then stepped away from him. “Yes, well. Enough of that.” He took a moment to find his phone and was about to see if Fan was still on the line - because Fan tended to panic when odd things happened - when Peter let out a fear-filled little squeak.

Peter pointed behind Yut-Lung. “Police!” And Peter took off running. 

“Wait a minute!” Yut-Lung looked in the direction Peter had pointed in and, indeed, there was a police officer. He was speaking to a couple of men outside a cafe a half-a-block away and paying no attention at all to Yut-Lung or Peter. Yut-Lung looked back at Peter and saw that Peter was still running. “Come back!” He started to run after Peter, but it was no good. In mere seconds Peter had disappeared and Yut-Lung was forced to give up. He stood in the middle of the sidewalk looking to where he’d last seen Peter.

Yut-Lung didn’t like failing and losing Peter felt like a failure. His hands clenched into fists and his neck stiffened. He put his phone back to his ear and heard Fan calling his name and asking if he was alright. “I’m fine,” Yut-Lung answered. “Don’t fuss. Look, I need someone found. He’s blonde and said his name is Peter.”

Central Park-  
Phil-

Phil was, surprisingly, the first one to find Ash and Hulk. It had been entirely by chance that he’d stumbled upon their place in the middle of a dense part of the forest. He’d heard Ash’s voice, steady and calm, first, and felt a stab of relief so great that he stopped for a moment to catch his breath. Slowly, Phil made his way closer to where he heard Ash and stopped only when he finally saw them, Ash and Hulk, in a clearing where some grass had found enough sunlight let through the thick canopy to grow. Hulk sat on the ground at the base of a tree, leaning his back against the trunk and looking calmer than Phil had ever seen him. Ash was sitting across from Hulk, perhaps ten feet away, and had his long legs stretched out in front of him while he spoke.

“And then Paul Bunyan found a giant baby ox in the snow. It was so cold that it was blue and shivering.” As he said that, Ash gave a little shiver of his own. He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his knees. “They became the best of friends.”

Hulk smiled.

Phil gaped. He really shouldn’t. He knew, better than most, that Hulk wasn’t a monster. He had seen with his own eyes that Hulk only ever wanted to defend himself and Bruce and never went looking for trouble. People rarely saw that side of Hulk and, instead, saw the property damage Hulk left in his wake. Phil was confidant enough about how well he knew his team that he knew if Ash didn’t point his gun at Hulk, Hulk wouldn’t see Ash as a threat. Considering that Tony had seen Hulk carrying Ash around, Phil thought there was a very good chance that Hulk had, instead, seen Ash as a small, defenseless person who needed to be taken care of. Whatever the story, they were both alive.

But to see Hulk so at ease and calm... listening to a child’s story... Phil had a sudden urge to take a photograph.

Without the worry for them flooding his mind, Phil was able to think of other things, such as why Ash might have orchestrated his disappearance, because he was certain that Ash had somehow contacted his friends and had them make such a distraction so he could escape. It really had been a very good, but simple distraction. In fact, S.H.I.E.L.D. had agents trained purely for the purpose of distraction so other agents could do their jobs and get away without being noticed and Phil had worked with them before which made him able to appreciate the skills Ash’s friends had.

“So,” Ash continued. “Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox went off to travel together because they were such good friends.”

Hulk rumbled, “Ash friend?”

“Yeah, you and me can be friends, too.” He gave Hulk a sharp look. “You doing okay?”

Hulk nodded, but said, “Tired.”

“Yeah. I know. I’m sorry. Damn it, where are your friends? Thought they’d be here by now. They all seem dependable. I thought.” Ash winced and pressed a hand against his side where, Phil knew, the knife wound was. “What am I going to do? They seemed trustworthy and I went and put all my people right in their hands. I am such an idiot.”

Phil’s eyes widened and his spine straightened. That didn’t sound at all good. He must have made some noise, because Ash was instantly on his feet and faced in Phil’s direction. “Got a good reason for lurking? If you’re a mugger, you’re gonna have a real bad day!” And his hand slipped to the small of his back where he carried his revolver. “Get out here!”

Hulk grumbled and stood up, far more gracefully than most people would give him credit for, and started to move in the direction where Phil was.

“Don’t get in front of me,” Ash warned Hulk when it looked like Hulk might rush towards where Phil was concealed. “Stay back.”

“Never thought I’d see our Hulk get protected by a kid.” Clint’s voice made Hulk look up and there, in a tree branch just over Hulk’s head, sat Clint. He grinned down at them. “You two gave us all an almighty scare. The whole team’s looking for you.”

Hulk let out a happy rumbling sound, clearly happy to see a friend.

“What?” Ash scowled, not nearly so happy to see Clint. “You left my people alone?”

It was then that Phil stepped into view. “J.A.R.V.I.S. is just as much a part of the team as anyone else and he’s protecting your friends. They’re safe.”

Ash turned to look at Phil very slowly and when he did there was such a look on his face that it took Phil aback. Closed. Cold. Not aggressive, but empty. And Phil didn’t know what to say. It was as if the past few days of Ash living with them and opening up about what Golzine had done to him hadn’t happened. Ash had no more warmth to him than he’d had that day when he’d kept Phil in a park as they waited for Max. Something had happened.

Tony arrived, dropping out of the sky with a little more caution than usual. “This suit isn’t made for flying around in a forest. If I put on any speed at all, I’ll start knocking down trees. I need to do something about that. J.A.R.V.I.S., make a note.” Then he took off the Iron Man mask and went straight to Hulk. “Hey, there. I thought I saw you jumping around.” The easy way Tony had with both Bruce and Hulk was wonderful to see and, the best part of it was, Tony had no idea he was doing something so important for Bruce and Hulk as merely treating them as ordinary people. Phil didn’t say anything about it for fear of making Tony self-conscious, but it was marvelous to see him treating Bruce and Hulk without an ounce of fear. 

Ash moved away as the clearing began to fill with Avengers, keeping himself close to the tree line. After Clint and Tony’s entrances, Natasha and Steve arrived together. Ash stood a short distance away from them while Tony explained to Hulk that it was okay for him to get some rest and let Bruce come out. Hulk did look tired and that wasn’t a look Phil was used to seeing on him. But then, Hulk didn’t normally stay around too long after the danger had ended.

“Doctor Banner got shot,” Ash said, without being asked. “I didn’t know if he’d still be bleeding when they changed back, so I’ve been trying to keep Hulk here.”

“Bruce’ll be fine,” Tony assured Ash, cheerfully “He heals after Hulk comes out.” Then he turned back to Hulk. “So, you can take a nap, buddy. I’ll get Bruce home and put him to bed.”

Slowly, Hulk nodded his head. He gave Tony a big, sleepy smile. “Home.” Then he looked at Ash. “Hurt.”

Ash gave Hulk a little half-smile. “I’m good. Go on. Get some rest.”

There was a stain on Ash’s shirt, just over his wound. He had his hand pressed over it, but Phil could see a bit of the dark stain - he was sure it was blood; he’d seen far too many blood stains in his life to make such a mistake - around the edges of Ash’s hand. Phil was instantly on alert, but as Ash was relatively calm, he had to presume that there was no immediate danger and no reason to upset Hulk by making a big deal of Ash’s wound.

Hulk closed his eyes and leaned forward. The change was swift, but relatively easy. The green faded from his skin and he grew smaller and smaller until Hulk was gone and Bruce was in his place. True to what they knew of him, Bruce’s injury had entirely healed while Hulk had been in control. Bruce blinked and looked around, but then went right back to sleep, not stirring even when Tony, still in the Iron Man suit, picked him up. 

“I’m going to take him back to The Tower. Have a nice walk home.” Tony took off, flying away with Bruce. 

Phil turned to the rest of his team. “I’ll let Fury know what happened. Ash...” he turned to face Ash, but his words caught in his throat when he saw that Ash still had that odd ‘blank’ look on his face. “What’s wrong?”

Ash’s lips pressed together. His eyes narrowed. Then he turned on his heel and started walking. 

Phil had to hurry to catch up and, when he did, he noticed that his team had wordlessly spread out in a defensive position with Steve walking next to Ash and Clint and Natasha a few steps behind to watch the area. Phil walked on Ash’s free side. He didn’t miss that Ash kept looking around, all of his body language screaming of tension and alertness. He had begun to seem more relaxed around The Avengers since he’d been staying with them, but all that was gone.

Whatever had upset Ash was something big so Phil let Ash just walk for a time. Eventually, as they got closer to the perimeter of Central Park, he asked, “Ash, why did you run off? Max spoke to me and said you told Jessica that you just wanted a walk. Is that the truth?”

Ash-

“Of course it’s the truth. What? You think I’d lie to Jessica?” Ash didn’t look at Phil when he spoke. He would, of course, lie to Jessica if he thought it was necessary.

Ash felt the agitation in his gut like a cat struggling to get out of a bag. He needed to know he could trust Phil and his people. If they had read the list of names Ash had given Captain Jenkins, then they knew Thema Shehata was on it and they hadn’t done anything about it if she was still using HYDRA soldiers to hunt Blanca.

He wanted to believe in Phil and his Avengers, but trusting powerful people was dangerous. If Ash were entirely honest, he’d have to admit that he liked them. The idea that they might have seen that Thema Shehata was on the list and had simply ignored it felt like betrayal and while that hurt, he also cursed himself for letting down his defenses so easily that he could be hurt by them.

He wished Shorter were there with him. Sometimes, he missed Shorter so much that it was worse than any physical pain. He had learned everything he knew about being a good Boss from Shorter, and he wished Shorter were there to give him some advice about what to do with Sing’s phone because even if Blanca had given permission for him to show the video to The Avengers, he had a concussion and who knew if he even understood what he was saying? Phil and his team were unlikely to be sympathetic if they found out Blanca was a professional assassin, even though they had, in Clint and Natasha, two on their own team.

Ash kept walking until they left the park, all the time thinking and considering, trying to decide how to tell whether or not he could trust them, because if they were ignoring Thema Shehata’s crimes or, worse, if they were actually helping his enemies (Would S.H.I.E.L.D. like to have Banana Fish? Would they try to use it to further their ends?) then Ash had put all his friends into enemy hands. Max and his family, Ibe-san and Eiji... they were all in the power of The Avengers. Would they be hurt if Ash started questioning the motives of his ‘protectors’? He likely couldn’t get everyone out of The Avengers’ Tower without raising suspicions but he couldn’t let them stay if there was any chance that S.H.I.E.L.D., and therefore Phil and his Avengers, were the enemy.

“I really did go for a walk. I happened to run into people.” It would do little good to lie. Doctor Banner would surely tell them everything that he’d seen and it was a possibility that he might remember things that Hulk had seen or done. Still, the truth could wait until Ash found out what he needed to know. Ash made himself sound as nonchalant as he could. “Say, Phil, did you read the list of perverts I gave the cops?”

“I did. You and Max seemed worried that someone in S.H.I.E.L.D. might be on your list, so I thought it would be a good idea to go through it. Why?”

“You read the whole thing? Didn’t just skim over it? You read every name?” Ash was all too aware that The Avengers were all around and if they turned out to be enemies, then he was surrounded. It was a terrible thought, a terrifying thought. He didn’t want to believe it. They had been kind. They just didn’t seem like the type to work with people like Dino and Thema Shehata, but Ash had been disappointed by people before. It could happen, again. 

“I read it. Your police friends, Captain Jenkins and Charlie, emailed a copy of it to me. As we’re supposed to protect you from your enemies, it helps to know who those enemies might be. I went through all the proper channels, of course - it’s all perfectly legal so me seeing it won’t affect your day in court. I read every name on that list. And I can assure you that I’ve been keeping track of the investigation. A great many of those names have been arrested, already. There’s a lot of work being done to get the people in other nations back to America for trial, but it’s tricky. It will take time.”

“Probably half of them will never see a day in court.” Ash snapped the words out. Phil had read the list. Phil didn’t strike Ash as being careless enough to simply skim over the names. He would have read each name and he would have seen her name. Ash stepped over a fallen tree and the move stretched the skin around his healing wounds. What reason could they have for ignoring her name? As a member of the World Security Council, she did have a lot of authority over S.H.I.E.L.D. so maybe Phil had been worried about his job or how the scandal would affect S.H.I.E.L.D.’s reputation. While Ash’s worries were plausible, something about the whole situation didn’t seem right. Ash slipped a hand casually under his jacket to where Shorter’s knife sat in its’ sheath at his side and felt reassured by its’ weight, as if Shorter was actually with him.

The day was wearing on and night began to approach. Central Park was far bigger than most people knew and since Ash had left Cape Cod, it was as close as he ever got to a real, proper forest. In the middle of Central Park, it was easy to forget that it was in one of the biggest cities on Earth. He wasn’t entirely at ease in such a place, especially as the fading daylight began to cast shadows that seemed to creep and move all on their own. He was used to concrete and buildings of metal and glass and brick, of the unending sound and smell of traffic, lights... it was always light in the city, it was never actually dark thanks to streetlights, car headlights, security lights in businesses that burned all night, and the lights in the apartments people lived in. The idea of being in Central Park after dark, when he knew very well that the dangers would increase, and being unable to see anything was unnerving to say the least, so he kept walking.

The Avengers said very little as they followed him, but Ash was able to hear footsteps behind him while he walked and Phil stayed near his side with Steve on his other side. The idea that they might be the enemy was heavy, like a weight in his mind, but it was so hard to fit that idea in with the people he had gotten to know over the past few days. If they were the enemy, then why treat him so well? As soon as they’d gotten him in their Tower, they could have killed him or locked him up. He needed the truth.

They reached the edge of the park with no difficulty and Ash was back in familiar surroundings on the sidewalks with traffic creeping slowly by. They walked for only a few yards before Phil asked, “Where are we going?” He looked at Ash and Ash didn’t see anything in Phil’s expression that even hinted Ash should be wary of him. On the other hand, Phil was smart, Ash knew. If anyone could hide such a thing, then it would be Phil.

He needed a second opinion. He needed the opinion of someone used to judging other people’s character and the honesty of their words, someone experienced with secrets and lies. If Blanca weren’t resting from his injuries, he would have gone straight to Blanca for advice, but as things stood he would have to go to his second choice.

“The police station. I gotta talk to Captain Jenkins.”

The police station was very busy. People - both officers and civilians - were coming and going. Inside, in one large room where all the officers and detectives had their desks, it was a near madhouse with officers talking on phones at their desks and people in handcuffs waiting to be processed. Ash recognized a lot of people on both sides on the law when he walked in. He went straight to a door near the back of the large room. He knocked and opened the door after an irritable voice yelled out, “Come in or stop bothering me! I’m busy!”

“Hey, Captain?” Ash gave a friendly wave to Captain Jenkins who sat behind an old metal desk that had likely served in that police station for the better part of thirty years. With piles of paper and an outdated computer on the desk along with a white coffee mug strongly smelling coffee, Captain Jenkins looked the very image of a harried policeman. He looked exhausted, as if he hadn’t slept in days.

Captain Jenkins frowned at Ash. “Is something wrong? Why are you here? Are you hurt?”

Ash rolled his eyes. “Why does everyone always think I’m hurt?”

“Because you usually are.” He looked Ash up and down before he seemed satisfied and said. “If you’re not hurt, why are you here? Something I should know about?”

“Not really. I just wanted to know if you still had the notebook I gave you - the one with the list of names?”

Captain Jenkins nodded. “Sure. You know I don’t trust computers. I keep all important things I’m given carefully and its right in my desk. It’s no trouble at all.”

Ash laughed, easily. “That’s great. Can I see it for a minute?”

“I don’t see why not. It can’t leave the station, though. It’s evidence.”

“No problem.” Then Ash turned to The Avengers and shooed them out of the room. “Go sit down and have a rest. I think I can handle this on my own.” And he closed the door behind him.

“What’s this all about?” Captain Jenkins asked even as he pulled out a spiral bound notebook from a drawer in his desk and handed it to Ash.

Instead of answering, Ash said, “I need to see the email you sent to Phil.”

It took Captain Jenkins a minute to find the email on his computer, but he did find it and showed it to Ash. Ash stood while he read the email, half-bent over Captain Jenkins desk. He scrolled down the list of names until he came to the place where Thema Shehata’s name should have been, but wasn’t. Clearly, the email had been sent from Captain Jenkins’ computer altered, but that didn’t let Phil off the hook. S.H.I.E.L.D. was certainly powerful enough to have a few bought cops on the payroll, just as Dino had paid a few to make legal problems disappear. It wouldn’t be hard for S.H.I.E.L.D. to have one of their agents in the police department delete a name. Heck, everyone was connected by the internet so they didn’t even have to be in the police department. A good enough hacker could easily get into Captain Jenkins’ computer from anywhere in the world.

Finally, after Ash was finished reading the list, he told Captain Jenkins, “This is wrong.”

“What? Wrong? What happened?”

“A missing name.” He looked at Captain Jenkins. “Either whoever you had put that list on your computer system didn’t put that name on the list or someone went in afterwards and deleted the name. You’ll have to add in Thema Shehata’s name to get the complete list.”

“Charlie put it in the computer.”

“He wouldn’t just forget a name and he sure wouldn’t leave it off deliberately. Someone went into your system after Charlie was done and erased the name.” He tucked the notebook of names under his arm and took a minute to tell Captain Jenkins what was going on. “Now, let’s go see if Phil knew anything about it.”

Phil-

Ash and Captain Jenkins were only in the office for a few minutes before they came out with Ash holding a notebook. He said to Captain Jenkins, “I need to use one of your interrogation rooms, please. It’s so noisy out here and I really need to concentrate.” And he put a hand to his ear, as if to illustrate how the general noise of the police station bothered him.

“Of course.” And Captain Jenkins led them to a door marked with a simple number ‘2’ painted on it. Inside the room was a table and two chairs. Everything was bolted to the floor. The walls were white painted cinder blocks and there was only one light, a simple fluorescent light, just above the table. Before he left them, Captain Jenkins said, “Use it as long as you like. I’ll be right around the corner.”

Ash shrugged at Phil’s team. “Sorry. There’s only two chairs. I need to talk to him,” he gestured towards Phil. “But the rest of you guys will have to wait outside.” Then Ash closed the door and it was only him and Phil in the room. They both sat at the table and Ash put the notebook he’d gotten from Captain Jenkins on the table in front of him and opened it. “Sorry for dragging you back here, but I wanna ask you about one of these people on the list and the noise out there is just too much.” He started to turn the notebook pages slowly, looking carefully up and down each page of names. He was quiet for several minutes and had gone through nearly the entire book before he stood up. “Look, I just remembered. I need to ask Captain Jenkins something.” He slid the notebook over to Phil. “You keep looking for me. I’m looking for the name Tom Sherman. It’s all in alphabetical order, so it should be on the next page or two. Look at every name so you don’t miss it. Okay?”

“Sure.” As Phil knew that Steve, Natasha, and Clint were all in the hall waiting, he had no hesitation about letting Ash leave the room alone and doing him such a little favor. The minute the door closed behind Ash, Phil started to look down the list of names from where Ash had left off. He did just as Ash asked him and was methodical in looking. He dragged his finger down the list of names as he looked, just to be sure he didn’t miss any names. It really was amazing that Ash had filled the notebook with names, all from memory. Of course, it was possible that Ash had forgotten some names over the years Golzine had him enslaved, and it was almost certain that many people would get away with their crimes because surely Ash couldn’t have seen all Golzine’s clients but Ash did seem convinced that Golzine had been exacting in his record keeping so, really... really...

Phil’s thoughts froze when, nearly half-way down the page, his finger landed on one name, one name he knew very well. A name he knew had not been in the email the police officers had sent him. It was a name that complicated everything and, sadly, explained quite a bit, too. Thema Shehata. She was in on it. That was why she hadn’t wanted to let The Avengers guard Ash when this had all begun. Phil’s lips pressed together as he tried to rein in his anger. He saw his finger, still pointing to her name on the page, begin to shake.

The kind of scum who would abuse children... who’d more than likely contributed to Ash’s nightmares... and she had such control over S.H.I.E.L.D.? To hold such power and esteem when she was lower than slime? It was a betrayal. How many other lies did she tell? How many decisions has she made that had been influenced by her association with Golzine? According to Ash, Golzine had a penchant for collecting people with power and someone on the World Security Council would have surely been of interest to him. Had he traded time at Club Cod for favors Thema Shehata could do for him? The more he thought about it, the more his anger boiled.

“Thema Shehata.”

Ash-

Ash made a show of looking through the notebook, even though he knew very well exactly what page he was looking for. He went to the page directly before the one Thema Shehata’s name was on before he made his excuses and left the room. He stepped out of the interrogation room and, ignoring The Avengers’ in the hall, went to the door next to the interrogation room where he found Captain Jenkins waiting for him. 

Captain Jenkins stood in front of a large monitor that showed Phil sitting at the table where Ash had left him. “You really think he’s working against you?” Captain Jenkins asked as soon as Ash closed the door behind him. “Charlie said he seemed like a good man.”

“Yeah, well, he also apparently did nothing about that Shehata and I need to know why.”

Ash saw the exact moment when Phil found something on the list. He saw Phil freeze, then look confused for a slight moment before he got a pinched look on his fade and his face went red. There was no mistaking the anger that settled over him. Ash kept watching, even though, for a time, Phil did nothing. Phil closed his eyes and let out a loud breath through his nose and when he opened his eyes, rather than being calmer, there was such anger in his eyes that Ash was surprised. He had gotten to know Phil as a generally mild and amiable man. His temper was steady and even though he had a general overview of what Ash had done in his life, he didn’t appear to hold it against Ash or think lesser of him. Ash had seen Phil treat his team with respect and dignity, taking their needs to heart and watching carefully to make sure they were well and happy. To see such deep anger burning in Phil’s eyes was unsettling, but Ash didn’t dwell on it. He couldn’t. He’d brought Phil there for a reason. Ash leaned closer to the monitor focused on Phil’s face and watched every little twitch and slight movement.

Phil hissed, “Thema Shehata.”

“He’s not hiding anything,” Captain Jenkins judged, confident as if he’d said the sun would rise in the east.

It was a relief and Ash nodded his agreement. “You’re sure?” Ash thought so, too. Every instinct he had screamed at him that Phil was trustworthy, but he had been wrong before. He’d been wrong when he’d met Foxx in Froggy’s club and thought the man was harmless and he’d been wrong when he’d first met Blanca and been so terrified that he’d run and hid from him. So a second opinion couldn’t hurt and Captain Jenkins was very good at his job, as far as Ash could tell.

Captain Jenkins nodded. “Yeah. I’m sure. That was a genuine reaction if I’ve ever seen one. He was surprised and angry to see that name. I’ll get Charlie to go over your list, again, just in case any other names vanished before he emailed the list to Agent Coulson and we’ll get it to him as soon as possible. But, for now,” Captain Jenkins smiled. “I don’t see any signs of him lying. Thanks for letting us know. I’ll start looking around to see if I can find the rat who did this.” He started for the door, then stopped and looked at Ash with concern that Ash remembered so well from that day when he’d first met Captain Jenkins and the man had given him food. “Look, are you doing alright? Do you need anything?”

“You’re working my case, Captain,” Ash reminded him. “I think you’re supposed to stay impartial and not get too involved.”

“I’m impartially making sure the witness in this case is doing well.”

“I’m good.” Ash looked at the monitor where Phil seemed to be getting angrier by the moment. “I’m real good. They’re good people. Look, I better go in there before he gets angry enough that his people get worked up. I don’t think any of us need that. I’ll be seein’ ya.” He gave Captain Jenkins a cheery wavy before he went back into the interrogation room.

Phil was on his feet, glaring at the notebook he’d left on the table. He looked up sharply when Ash walked in and Ash could almost see him thinking, puzzling something over in his mind, before he said, “You were watching. Did you get the reaction you wanted when you left that notebook with me?”

Ash raised an eyebrow. “You knew you were being watched?”

“In hindsight, there seems to be little other reason for you to leave me alone with that notebook with her name in it.” Finally, he met Ash’s eyes. “There’s no one-way mirror in here. Where were you watching from?”

“A hidden camera. I was watching on a monitor in the other room.” Ash leaned his back against the door. “I needed to know if you knew her name was on that list, considering she’s one of your bosses. If you ignored her being on the list...”

“Then you couldn’t trust us. I assure you I didn’t know. If I had known...” And Phil stopped talking. He closed his eyes and went very still. When he opened his eyes the raging anger was subdued. “Forgive my temper. We need to find out how that name disappeared before I received the list.” He picked up the notebook and closed it. “And you and I need to talk to Nick Fury.”

To Be Continued...


	29. The Pink Pig

Chapter 29: The Pink Pig

At the Police Station-  
Phil-

The interrogation room was cool and that was good because Phil’s temper was burning hot. He fought to control it, and, luckily, had experience controlling his temper. One didn’t get to his position and not be able to control himself. After all, a handler had to be able to control themselves if they intended to control their assets. So he stood at the table where he’d found Thema Shehata’s name in Ash’s notebook and settled his temper until he no longer felt like trying to put his fist through the table.

Betrayed. They were betrayed. Worse still - and a crime Phil would not forgive - Thema Shehata’s betrayal had resulted in Bruce getting shot. No, that was an unforgivable offense. No wonder Ash had called himself an idiot for trusting The Avengers and had acted so coldly when they’d found him and Hulk in the park - he’d believed they were allowing Thema Shehata to get away with her crimes.

Phil went to the door of the interrogation room and stuck his head out. Natasha and Steve sat in little plastic chairs pushed up against the wall while Clint stood next to Natasha. All of them watched the large open area of the police station. There were desks where police officers were doing paperwork or speaking with people, but there were a great many people who seemed to be moving here and there, like industrious bees in a hive. 

“Excuse me,” all three of them turned at the sound of Phil’s voice and looked at him. “Please, come in. We need to discuss something.”

Of course, they did as he asked without question. Steve first and Clint last, they all came in and it made the room feel very small. Phil closed the door and went back to the table. He looked down at the notebook, then up at Ash. For all intents and purposes, Ash was ignoring them all. He leaned casually against a wall, his hand still holding his side and Phil was harshly reminded that as angry as he was at the idea that Thema Shehata had patronized Golzine’s Club and then had the audacity to sit in judgment of Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., Ash was being forced to relive his experiences over and over the longer the whole ordeal progressed. He very nearly asked if Ash wanted to leave the room, but he stopped himself. If nothing else, Ash had proven that he knew his mind well enough to know that if he wanted to leave, he would leave without waiting for permission. 

“What’s going on, Phil?” Steve asked. His eyes darted to Ash, then back to Phil. “I haven’t seen you this upset in a long while.”

“That’s the God’s honest truth,” Clint agreed. “You’re all red in the face. What happened?”

Natasha said nothing, but she watched him intently and he knew she was waiting for orders of some kind. She would want to be told what to do to make the situation better.

There was no help for it. As much as he didn’t like adding stress to his peoples’ lives, it wasn’t something that could be put off. So he took a deep breath and said, “This is an official briefing.” The instant he said it, all three of his people snapped to attention. Even Clint, who liked to look as if he were relaxed all the time, straightened up a little. Phil continued, “I wish I could wait until we were back at the Tower and do this as a group, but this is an urgent matter. I plan to go from here to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to meet with Fury. Ash has just let me know that a name was erased off the list of suspects the police emailed to me. Councilwoman Thema Shehata of the World Security Council.”

Steve burst out, “What?!”

Clint turned away from Phil, his face tight with anger.

While Natasha’s expression didn’t change and she didn’t exclaim anything, Phil did see the slight tensing of one hand. She wasn’t anymore happy than her team mates.

Phil had a premonition of what Tony’s reaction would be and he made a note to have hot tea, soothing music, and a fire extinguisher ready because when Tony got upset things tended to catch on fire.

Phil made a soothing gesture with his hands. “I know. We need to be calm, for now. The news that one of the people controlling S.H.I.E.L.D. was a customer of Club Cod is going to call S.H.I.E.L.D.’s integrity into question and this news will get out. All scandalous news does. This will have to be handled carefully. She will have to face justice and be taken out of her current position and that’s going to be very difficult. Not impossible, but difficult.”

“She’s also working for HYDRA.”

Everyone turned to look at Ash, who still didn’t look at them. He said it so calmly, as if it weren’t disastrous news.

“How do you know that?” Phil asked.

“I heard some HYDRA soldiers talking about orders she gave them.”

Clint rolled his eyes. “Well, doesn’t this day just get better and better? So now, we have to let the whole world know that S.H.I.EL.D. has been under the supervision of a pervert who’s also a HYDRA agent. Not only do we all look like morons for not knowing who’s giving us orders, but everything S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever done will now be looked at under a microscope.”

“And with good reason,” Steve said, firmly. “Who knows what she’s done while she’s been in power? She might have used S.H.I.E.L.D. to do some real bad stuff. The whole organization should be carefully looked at.”

“Quite right,” Phil agreed. “We can only hope that she was the only double agent, but if there are more, they need to be found immediately.” Phil rubbed his forehead, as he began to work out the logistics of the wide-spread investigation. “We’re going to have to vet everyone in S.H.I.E.LD. from the highest-ranking personnel to the janitor. First thing is first, we’re going to see Fury. I’d like to be able to send you all home to rest, but with HYRDRA in the city I don’t want to take any chances until Ash is back safely at the Tower. Ash, did you overheard what orders the HYRDA soldiers were given by Shehata? Did you see what they looked like?”

“They were looking for someone.” He shrugged. “And I know exactly what they looked like.” He turned his head just a little and looked at Phil out of the corner of his eye.

Ash-

He should give Phil Sing’s phone. The video on it was evidence that the people who attacked Sing had been HYDRA and showed exactly who they were. Sooner or later, those men - the men Ash had killed - would be found and the video could help prove that they were dangerous and Ash hadn’t just gone off and killed people for no good reason. He was under no illusion at all that the bodies wouldn’t be found - despite all Blanca’s lectures about being discrete in killing, every time Ash had to kill someone it was an emergency and there was never time to hide bodies or make things look like accidents and this time was no exception as Hulk had been in a hurry to get away. So he should just hand over the phone and tell Captain Jenkins or Phil or someone that he’d killed those men before it was found out. No one would believe a word he said in court if he kept lying and hiding things, after all, and he needed to be able to have people trust his word when he stood up in court and had to swear under oath about what had happened at Club Cod and what Dino had done to all the kids there. So, he knew he should give the video Sing had recorded to Phil like Nadia had asked him to.

Despite all that logic, he still hesitated. Phil was staring at him, waiting for an answer and he’d proven he and his people were on Ash’s side, but still, Ash hesitated for one very, very good reason.

‘They’ll hear Blanca’s name. They’ll want to get involved if they know HYDRA’s looking for him. They’ll research him and they might find out stuff. Blanca said it was alright to give them the video, but he’s got a concussion, so he probably doesn’t even know what he’s saying. But it’s not like they haven’t heard the name ‘Blanca’ before. A bunch of them met him in the hospital, they know his name and what he looks like. I think Doctor Banner heard the HYDRA people talk about Blanca before he got shot.’

He put a hand in his pocket where Sing’s phone sat and still hesitated because he couldn’t bring himself to put Blanca in danger, to betray him.

Phil-

When it became apparent that Ash wasn’t planning on saying anything else, Phil nodded. “Alright. We’ll talk about it later. We really need to get to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and you need that wound looked at.”

Ash grumbled and glowered, as he did every time it was suggested that he might need help. “I’m fine. And I need to go somewhere before you go to your headquarters. Don’t worry, it’s on the way and it won’t take long.”

“You know where S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters is?” Clint asked.

“Most everyone does. Not like it’s hidden or anything; it’s a huge building in the middle of the city.”

There was red around Ash’s fingers where he had it pressed against his gut, as if blood from the wound was soaking into his shirt. “I really think you ought to go back to the hospital before we do anything. I can ask if Doctor Myra can see you, if you like - she seemed nice.”

“She is nice, but I don’t need a hospital. I’m not going. No point in making people with real problems wait just ‘cause I popped a stitch or two.” When Steve looked like he might protest Ash laughed. “I’ve been taking care of myself a long time before you guys came into the picture. I’ve learned how to patch myself up pretty well.” And he headed for the door, apparently done with the meeting, and they had no choice but to follow.

Phil wished, he really wished, that he could insist Ash go back to the hospital to get his wound treated. There was clearly something wrong with it, but Ash wasn’t a child (Phil had to keep reminding himself of that fact) no matter how young he looked, he was an adult and no one had any right to make his decisions for him. If he didn’t want to go to a hospital, Phil couldn’t force him.

It was just outside the interrogation room where Charlie found them. He waved from across the room and made a beeline for them. “I’m glad I caught you, Ash. I just wanted to thank you for giving the phone to them,” he gestured at Phil and his Avengers. “Nadia told me what she found on Sing’s phone and how important it was that The Avengers get the information, so you really did her a favor by delivering it.”

Phil stepped forward and looked Ash in the face. “Did you forget to give me something?”

Ash rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Charlie.”

“What? What did I do?” Charlie blinked innocently at Ash.

“Never mind. Come on, this isn’t something you’re gonna want to see in public.” He went back into the interrogation room and everyone followed him. He took a small phone out of his pocket and pressed a few buttons. Then he handed it to Phil. “Watch the video.”

It was a horrifying video. Clint, Steve, and Natasha watched it over Phil’s shoulders and there wasn’t a peep in the room as the video played. They watched and listened as three HYDRA soldiers spoke about their plans, mentioned Thema Shehata, and then tried to beat a little fourteen-year-old child to death. In the end, Phil looked back at Ash, who didn’t bother pretending to be ashamed of himself. “Were you going to show us this if Detective Dickinson hadn’t said something?”

“Probably not. I told you everything that happened. You don’t really need the video.”

“It’s evidence,” Clint said. “We can use this against Shehata.”

“Blanca.” Steve said the name softly. “They mentioned Blanca and when you were in the hospital for your stab wound, there was a Blanca who came to see you and took care of Michael until his parents arrived. You didn’t want us to know he was mentioned in this video.”

“I don’t want him involved. He taught me to play chess, but that’s all. He wasn’t involved in Club Cod or any other garbage Dino was involved with. He shouldn’t be in all this.”

“And he’s the person you said the HYDRA agents were looking for. So you’re trying to protect him by keeping him out of everything. But, Ash, with HYDRA after him, we need to find him. He could be killed.”

“He’s fine where he is. Leave him alone.”

All of Phil’s team looked at him. It wasn’t a good decision, but what choice did they have? They couldn’t force Ash to speak. Phil said, “I won’t badger you into telling me where your teacher is, but I also won’t just let HYDRA go around hunting people. I can’t. I’m sorry. I’ll send some people out to look for a man fitting Blanca’s description and see what we can find. Don’t you think it’s a little odd that they’re putting so much effort into finding your chess teacher?”

“Not really. If one of your bosses is giving them orders, then they know about me. She probably has the clearance to read your reports and I’m sure you had to make some sort of report about Banana Fish when I told you about it. She must have read the report and now she wants Banana Fish for HYRDA and she somehow found out about my teacher. She wants to kill him to scare me, to manipulate me into giving her the Banana Fish.”

And Phil had to admit that it did make sense. It was entirely plausible, even if every nerve in his body screamed at him that Ash wasn’t telling the whole truth.

Ash then looked at Charlie. “Look, you’re not gonna want to hear this, but I killed them.” He pointed to the phone in Phil’s hand.

In a remarkably calm reaction, Charlie sigh. “Again? Ash...”

“I wouldn’t kill people if they’d stop trying to kill me and mine. They shot Doctor Banner, tried to beat Sing to death, and they would have hurt me. Yeah, I killed them after they shot Doctor Banner to stop them from killing him and hurting me and for what they did to Sing.”

Phil would have been more upset if he weren’t still angry that they’d shot Bruce.

Ash gave some information to Charlie, where it had happened and what, exactly, had happened leading up to the deaths. Before Charlie could leave to tell Captain Jenkins what had happened, Phil said,

“If you don’t mind, as the dead men are suspected of being HYRDA soldiers, I would like S.H.I.E.L.D. to deal with this matter. I can have a crew at the location collecting evidence and cleaning up in just a few minutes.”

That, with Captain Jenkins permission, was agreed upon and Ash, Phil, and his team all left the police station. On the sidewalk outside, Phil told Ash, “Lead the way. Where do you want to go before we see Director Fury?”

***

Ash took them to his gang’s hangout, the Pink Pig.

They walked in a protective order as they followed where Ash led. Clint stayed in the rear so he could keep an eye on them and the surroundings and Natasha and Phil walked right next to Ash where they could deal with any threats that might get close to him. Steve took point, going where Ash told him to go, as a first line of defense against anyone who would try a head-on attack.

As they walked, Phil arranged over the phone to have the area where Ash had killed those people secured before he made another call to Nick Fury. “Nick, we really need to talk.”

“What’s going on, Phil? I’ve got about two hundred issues sitting on my desk that I need to take care of.”

“I’m sorry. I know I’m adding to your problems, but I really need to talk to you. It’s about the Club Cod matter.”

“You know where my office is. Come in and we’ll talk.”

“Yes. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Our witness needs to go somewhere first, but we’ll be there as soon as possible. This is big.”

Fury was quiet for a time. “I understand. Where’s your witness was taking you?”

“To a place where his friends hang out. It’s called the Pink Pig.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Right. I’ll see you soon.”

Less than ten minutes after leaving the police station, they arrived at the rundown place. The sign of the Pink Pig hung over the door, bright pink words on a white board. The place was busy, people were everywhere. The Pink Pig seemed to be not only a headquarters for Ash’s guys, but also a bar. A loud cheer greeted Ash’s entrance and, from what Phil could see, all the teenagers in the Pink Pig were genuinely happy to see him. Ash ignored everyone entirely until he spotted a boy at the bar and went to sit with him. Phil recognized the boy as Alex.

“Ash!” Alex’s voice could be easily heard over the music. “Good to see you. Everything alright?”

“Yeah. Just stopped by for a minute. You okay? No trouble?”

“None.”

“Look after them,” Ash jerked a thumb at The Avengers. “I’m going out back for a minute.” And when Phil started to follow, Ash sniped, “I don’t need help. Sit down and relax.” Then, to Alex, he said, “Get my box, will ya?”

Ash-

Ash went into one of the back rooms of the Pink Pig and there he put the box Alex had given him on a table - the only piece of furniture in the room. The room was completely empty but for that table and a large plastic bin in a corner of the room. He opened his box and looked down at the first aid supplies. He’d put the box together as soon as he’d realized that his guys were prone to injury. There were bandages and different types of medication, a thermometer, a book of first aid instructions, small scissors, tweezers, and just about everything else a first aid kit might need. While a local doctor, Doctor Meredith, would generally see them for anything serious, small things were never deemed important enough to pay a doctor for.

Ash pulled off his shirt and looked down at his wound. There was blood around the wound, but not as much as he’d feared. He took a small mirror from the first aid box and used it to help him get a good look at the wound. It looked like three stitches had popped, but the wound itself looked good. Well, maybe not good, but at least it didn’t look bad. It seemed to be healing very nicely, in his opinion. There wasn’t all that much blood. He was pretty sure he’d have a scar, though, and wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about that. On the one hand, it would be a forever reminder about what he’d done to Lao, who, he was sure, only ever wanted to protect Sing. On the other hand, he rather liked the idea of a scar or two because Dino would have hated having Ash’s body marred.

Ash cleaned himself up and taped a clean bandage over the wound, then dug through the plastic bin in the corner of the room and found a clean shirt. That box was also Ash’s idea. It was packed with clean clothes, just in case. His gang didn’t need permission to take from the box, if their clothes got to beat up or too dirty to wear, then they took what they needed. None of the clothes were new - every bit came from a local church that gave clothes away to the needy - but they were clean and that was all he needed as he didn’t care to upset anyone by going around all bloody.

With his shirt changed and his wound freshly bandaged, Ash paused a moment. He was going to have to go to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters so Phil could do what he needed to do, but Ash would need to find a moment to get word to Yut-Lung to keep Blanca hidden away until people lost interest in him. With luck, Yut-Lung would actually try to keep Blanca safe. Ash wasn’t sure. He still didn’t get that guy.

Phil-

Five minutes after arriving at a club filled with angry teenagers, suspicious of strangers and glaring hatefully at them, Steve was sitting at a table and surround by a flock of those teenagers, all grinning and laughing as he told them about how he’d become Captain America, some of his less serious adventures, and the scrapes he’d gotten into in his youth with a close friend of his, and had somehow slid into talking about the Three Stooges. One of the teenagers took out his phone to look up the Three Stooges and that led to everyone crowding around, watching the old black and white slapstick comedy and laughing uproariously as there were hammers and planks of wood used as weapons that never did any harm.

Natasha joined a game of pool with two of Ash’s gang members and, in no time, was impressing them with trick shots as she made the colored balls almost dance over the table, doing exactly what she wanted them to do.

Clint wandered the perimeter of the Pink Pig, not in anyway that alarmed Ash’s gang, but he was subtly keeping an eye on everything going on around him and, always, kept his eyes on the only door that led into the club. That lasted only until two of Ash’s friends (Ash had called them Bones and Kong, that first day when Phil had met Ash) slipped over to him. Bones, with his arm in a cast, eagerly said, “I hear you’re a pretty good shot. Are you really that good? I mean, you can’t be better than Ash!”

“No one’s better than Ash,” Kong added, softly. “He’s amazing. One time, he had someone toss a quarter up in the air and he shot a hole right through it before it hit the ground!”

“Yeah, Ash doesn’t miss. You can’t be that good!” Bones said. 

Clint kept up his patrol of the room’s perimeter, but took up Bones’ challenge by telling of his own exploits to prove that maybe - just maybe - he might be a better shot than Ash.

They had been waiting only a short while for Ash, when the club’s door swung open. To Phil’s surprise, Nick Fury walked in. With his back ramrod straight and a steely look on his face, he walked in with a definite presence that, for a moment, made everyone in the room stop and stare. Fury spotted Phil and strode over to him.

“Nick, you didn’t have to come down here.”

Nick Fury looked at the young bartender. “Are you old enough to handle alcohol?”

“You wanna check my I.D.?”

“I don’t see why I’d bother. It’ll just be fake. What have you got to drink?”

The bartender laughed and took a bottle from under the bar. “You can have apple juice. This place is filled with minors; we don’t sell booze.”

Phil sniffed. The air definitely smelled of beer.

When he had his drink in hand, Nick said to Phil, “You are the only person I know who doesn’t exaggerate. Ever. In fact, if anything, you tend to downplay situations. If there was a man who ever fit the word ‘understatement’, that would be you. So when you call and tell me that there’s something important going on, I know I should pay attention. When you said it has to do with Club Cod, which is the cause of most of my current paperwork as I try to help the police get foreign citizens to America for trial, then I know I should be talking to you, now.” He took a sip of his drink and made a face.

Ash’s voice drawled from behind them, “So sorry it doesn’t meet your expectations. Next time you come for a visit, bring your own.” Ash had changed into a black t-shirt that looked about two-sizes too big for him, but there was no more sign of blood. He stood near the bar, a good six feet away from Fury, and studied him for a moment. “And you’re Nick Fury, aren’t you?”

Fury didn’t look at all surprised. He never did. “You’re well-informed.”

“I read the papers once in a while.” Then he looked around the room at his gang, all thoroughly entertained by Phil’s team, and frowned. “What are those goobers doing?”

“Everyone’s just having fun, Ash.” Alex came to stand next to Ash. “It’s not everyday we get famous people in here.”

Ash rolled his eyes. “Phil, you said you want to talk to this guy,” Ash looked, again, at Fury. “So you can talk now and I’ve gotta talk to my people.” He motioned Alex to walk with him and, together, they went to the other end of the bar and sat. 

They were easy and comfortable with each other, though body-language told Phil clearly enough that Alex deferred to Ash. It was the same with all the boys in the Pink Pig. A brief glance around the room showed Phil that, every few minutes, everyone in Ash’s gang would cast a glance at him, as if to make sure everything was alright. So long as Ash was relaxed, there was no trouble. Phil had the sudden, uncharitable, notion that it was like watching a pack of dogs looking to their alpha. He didn’t like that he thought such a thing of a bunch of boys who were clearly not the most advantaged of kids, but he couldn’t deny the reality of what he saw. 

He wondered, briefly, if Ash realized how much his gang depended on him.

“So, that’s Ash Lynx.” Fury put down his drink and pushed it away. “He makes an impression.”

“That he does. I’m glad you came, but this really is a conversation for private.”

“And who’s paying attention to us?” Fury turned around on the stool he sat on and looked around the room. No one was paying them any attention at all, except an occasional glance which Phil judged to be more about making sure the newcomers weren’t causing any trouble than actually being interested in them. No, the boys were far more interested in Phil’s team. “So, what’s going on?”

And Phil told him everything he’d learned about Thema Shehata being Golzine’s customer and that HYDRA agents had said she’d given them orders. He even showed Fury the brief video on the cellphone Ash had given him. He told Fury about Ash’s escape, how Bruce had been shot just before Hulk carried Ash away, and that Ash had admitted to killing the supposed HYDRA soldiers. When he told everything he knew, he looked at Fury and was entirely unsurprised to see Fury’s face pinched, but otherwise composed. Phil folded his hands on the bar in front of him and waited.

Fury’s jaw clenched. There was a vein in his neck that throbbed warningly. “What?!” He didn’t yell. He didn’t even raise his voice. Still, his anger was clear and profound. 

Phil glanced around the room and knew that his team were on alert. Being constantly aware of the people around him was a skill Phil had learned when he’d decided that he would work for S.H.I.E.L.D. and one that he was justifiably proud of, but he had a special knack for being aware of his team. He had known, of course, that they would be watching Fury even as they appeared to be fully engrossed with the kids of Ash’s gang. They had been just a little tense since the moment Fury had walked in. They weren’t afraid of him, but Fury was the type of man to inspire a vigilant sort of caution. But it wasn’t just his team. Even sitting at the far end of the bar with his friend, Ash had stopped talking and watched Fury with narrowed eyes and, because he was, Alex also stared suspiciously at Fury.

“One of our council members... one of the people holding our purse strings and giving our orders.” Fury seethed and punched one hand into the other with a resounding ‘smack’ “And her instance that we not get involved with the Club Cod matter makes a Hell of a lot of sense, now! I haven’t been able to contact her in days. So, what’s she been up to?” He stood up and started to pace the room as he spoke, taking long strides so that he crossed the room in only a few steps, then turned and walked back to the bar. His long coat flared dramatically when he turned and swung around his legs with every step. He didn’t acknowledge (though Phil was sure Fury had noticed) that even the kids in Ash’s gang had sensed his mood and had stopped their cheerful conversations to watch Fury. The whole place fell quiet. “Phil, I want to know everything about her. See if you can get Stark to work on it, too. I want to know where she went to school, what she ate for breakfast, and when she lost her first tooth!”

“Nick, this is why I wanted to do this in private. Everyone is now watching and listening. Please, sit down,” Phil said, keeping his tone soft and even. “Just sit down and relax. You’re scaring them.” Half the kids in the club looked like they were ready to run, but the other half looked ready to fight. They didn’t need that sort of incident. Fury sat and Phil waited patiently until everyone relaxed and went back to what they were doing. When he was confidant that no one was listening, he quietly said, “We’re going to have to do a deep investigation of all personnel. It’s possible that there are others within not only the World Security Council, but also in S.H.I.E.L.D. itself. This thing could go very deep.”

It didn’t calm Fury. He started to swear, just hissed words under his breath. When he appeared to run out of words, Fury said, “This is going to have to be careful, Phil. The rest of the council could make trouble if they know they’re being investigated. As if I need more trouble than this.” He ran a hand over his face and looked very tired.

Ash left his seat by Alex and went to stand near Phil and Fury. “You done with your meeting?”

Fury’s attention focused entirely on Ash. “Mister Lynx. I’ve heard a lot about you.” He gestured to the seat next to him. After a moment of consideration, Ash sat, but he sat next to Phil which put Phil between Ash and Fury. Fury said, “Phil told me everything. I hope you’re enjoying your stay with The Avengers.”

“It’s alright.”

“Good. That’s good. Now I heard there are HYDRA people involved with you. That’s not good and it gives me a problem to deal with. I strongly suggest that if you want to stay alive, you don’t pull anymore clever little stunts by running away from your protectors. I expect you had what you think are good reasons, but you’re going to end up dead if you keep this up. That, or you’ll get one of my people killed when they chase after you and have to go up against HYDRA to save you.”

It was harsh, but that was Fury - he pulled no punches.

“HYDRA wants the Banana Fish from you and it would be better for everyone if you told us everything you know about it,” Fury continued.

Ash snapped his head around to glare at Fury passed Phil. He got to his feet and strolled into the back room he’d only recently emerged from. 

“I think you upset him,” Phil noted. He got to his feet. “He doesn’t like talking about it. Come on. I believe he’s waiting for us.”

They found Ash in the back room, his arms crossed and surprisingly calm. When Phil closed the door behind himself and Fury, Ash said, “You don’t talk about that stuff, not in front of my people. Just knowing about Banana Fish is dangerous.”

Fury nodded, slowly. “I can do that. There’s no need to publicize it more than necessary, after all. Banana Fish would be an invaluable weapon for HYDRA or any other organization or person who wanted to cause havoc in the world. I have people looking for Gregory Dufort, but he’s proving difficult to pin down. You seem to have the most experience with the drug. Is there anything you can remember about it, anything about the way it was made?”

Ash didn’t look away from Fury. “Nope.”

“You’re sure?

“Absolutely.”

Fury said, “I think you’re lying.”

“Gee. Now, my feelings are hurt.”

“You’re afraid S.H.I.E.L.D. will use it as a weapon, too, aren’t you?” Fury straightened his coat. “It’s an understandable fear. But I can tell you - HYDRA having that drug will be a lot worse than S.H.I.E.L.D. having it.”

“Are you kidding me? I don’t want anyone to have it. If I have any say in the matter, it’s gonna burn the minute I get my hands on it.”

In a Public Garden -  
Jasper Sitwell -

He dialed the number of his superior and it rang only once before it was answered with, “You have news about Golzine’s business?”

“I’m working on the acquisition of the potential asset. Ash Lynx shows immense promise.”

“And the other matter?”

“Thema Shehata is proving less than effective. When I spoke to her, she had agreed to kill Blanca - THE Blanca! - in exchange for the Banana Fish. I don’t feel this is a wise use of HYDRA soldiers and it’s a waste of the possibility of recruiting Blanca. His reputation is outstanding and we ought to make overtures to him if we’re able to locate him.”

“I see. Do you have a better plan for getting the Banana Fish? The drug is surely more valuable than one assassin.”

“I’m working on it. And as for value, I will support the idea that Blanca is no mere assassin. If nothing else, we could use him as a trainer for our operatives if we can convince him to work for us willingly. I understand he’s self-employed, now, and willing to take contracts with people for the right price.”

The line was silent for a moment. “Yes. Yes, I can see the appeal. What are you doing to secure Ash Lynx for us?”

“Gaining his trust is of utmost importance. I need to make sure he knows I’m a person he can rely on. At the moment, he appears to have put his trust in The Avengers, but as he’s only been with them for a few days and considering what I’ve learned about his past, it won’t take much to break that trust. What will be more difficult is breaking his trust with people closer to him - such as the journalist who’s been working with him, Max Glenreed, and his family. That will be a little more difficult, but not impossible. As soon as I can isolate him from those people and set myself up as the one person he can trust, we can introduce him to what HYDRA can do for him and how much he can change the world with HYDRA. He’s lived a live of abject poverty before Dino Golzine put him in the lap of luxury, and then, when they had some sort of falling out, he went back to living on the streets. He’s experienced both poverty and wealth, so I’m confidant that he’ll take the opportunity of power we offer him. He won’t want to go back to poverty and weakness. Who would?”

“Very well. Carry on.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” He hung up and looked around at the garden. It was objectively beautiful. Bright colored flowers, vibrant green grass. A water fountain with crystal clear water. There were happy little children with their parents and contented couples out for a romantic walk though the public garden. Sitwell smiled at what he saw, nodded to one of the passing couples, but none of it really mattered. He didn’t dislike the place, but he also didn’t like it. It was simply convenient because there was enough space around to make sure he wasn’t overheard and no possibility of the place having been bugged. He dialed another phone number.

“Hello. You’ve reached NNY, the News Of New York, the most watched news station on television for the past three years. How can I help you?”

“Hello. Thank you for taking my call. I have some news I think you’ll be able to use, if you’ll take an anonymous source.”

“Of course.”

Sitwell wasn’t a bit surprised. He knew they’d bite. “I have some information about the witness to the Club Cod case.”

Later-  
At the Pink Pig-  
Alex-

Alex sat at the bar, drinking, long after Ash and The Avengers had left. Everything seemed pretty normal, pretty quite. Some of the guys were playing pool and some were sitting at tables playing cards. Everyone was reasonably happy and at ease. It would make Ash happy.

The television, sitting on the bar near Alex, was set on the news.

A reporter came on screen and said, “We have some breaking news about the horrific story we presented only a few days ago about the now infamous Club Cod. An unnamed source has come forward saying that the witness who is set to testify in court about Club Cod, is Ash Lynx, an eighteen-year-old gang leader who has, in the past, been arrested for prostitution and murder. If this information is correct, we have to ask ourselves - can this witness be relied on? A known criminal is hardly the most trustworthy - ”

As calmly as he could, Alex reached over and turned off the television. He looked around the room, but no one seemed to have noticed what the reporter had said so he turned back around and pretended to be interested in his drink, a troubled looked on his face.

Prostitution? Ash?

To Be Continued...


	30. Recording

Dear Readers - I’m sorry, but the next chapter will be delayed a week.  
Also, sorry this chapter is a little longer than usual. 

Chapter 30: Recording

The Avengers’ Tower-  
Max-

Max sat on the couch in the common room of The Avengers’ Tower and on the coffee table in front of him were piles of papers. Mostly, they were legal documents George had left in Max’s hands to fill out or get Ash to fill out and sign. There was so much to do before the court date and they still didn’t know when that would be because the ‘powers-that-be’ wanted to keep it as secret as possible to prevent anyone from disrupting the day. There were other papers, too. Jessica was selling the house in California; she never wanted to go back, didn’t even want to set foot in California for the rest of her life.

He looked over his shoulder at the kitchen where Jessica was busily, and messily, making dinner for everyone. J.A.R.V.I.S. was a great help as he knew where everything was stored in the kitchen.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to do that?” Max asked.

Jessica wiped a bit of something off her cheek. “I’m good. You keep plugging away at those papers. If Charlie brings anymore, we’re going to drown in them.”

“I’m making good progress. Honestly, I’ll do the cooking. Let you have a rest.”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.” She rolled her sleeves up to her elbows before she turned around and bent over to get something out of a bottom cabinet and, when she did, she glanced over her shoulder and smirked when she caught Max staring. “Are you leering at my bum?”

“God, yes.”

Her smirk grew into a very pleased grin. “Good.”

Jessica was not a good chef. She, however, didn’t know that and Max wasn’t inclined to tell her as providing for her family made her so happy. Cooking for everyone in The Tower was her way of thanking them because, as both she and Max knew, they were putting themselves out by taking everyone in and they hadn’t even bargained on taking in Eiji and Shunichi, yet they’d done it without question.

Max turned back around to continue working on the paperwork for selling the house in California. He’d have to find them a place to live in New York when all was said and done. Jessica wanted to stay in New York because it was good for both of them for their writing careers, but they both worried about Michael growing up in a city. That was why the house in California had been in the suburbs, they’d wanted Michael to grow up with trees and grass. No matter. They’d work that out later, the important thing was that neither she nor Michael could go back to California and feel safe.

After a short time, and several more papers read and signed, Jessica left the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel and went to the large window that overlooked the city. “They’re taking an awful long time. How long does that boy need to walk for?”

“Ash will be fine. He knows this city like he knows the inside of his own pocket. Maybe he wanted to see some friends.”

“Well, I wish they’d get back. All those superheroes and it takes so long to find one injured boy?”

“I’ve seen him do incredible things while injured. He’ll be fine.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke up, then. “If it is any comfort, Sir and the rest of The Avengers are most diligent in their work. They will find him and retrieve him.”

Jessica sniffed. “They’d better. It’s getting dark.”

Though he had an argument on the tip of his tongue about how Ash certainly wouldn’t be worried about being out late at night, Max smiled at the back of Jessica’s head and swallowed his argument. There was nothing he could do to stop her worrying. Heaven only knew what she’d be like when Michael turned into a teenager and wanted to start driving. 

Max looked at Michael, sound asleep on the sofa next to him. “I think he’s having less nightmares.”

Jessica moved to stand behind the sofa and reached over to rake her fingers lightly through Michael’s thick hair. “Thanks goodness. Maybe it’s being here. These people are certainly protective and he does love having Ash around all the time. He doesn’t seem so scared of The Avengers like he was when we first got here. Maybe we should start taking him out more often so he gets used to the idea that not all strangers are dangerous.”

“I think we can do that.” Max and Jessica spoke lightly about Michael and his troubles which led to Max asking her why she hadn’t told him about Ash’s eating problems. She just told him it was private and if Ash wanted to talk about it, he would. That didn’t make Max feel any better about the situation because he distinctly remembered meeting Ash for lunch at some fancy little restaurant where he’d worn a very obviously fake moustache and Ash had come dressed as a rich college boy. Max had ordered a big steak and Ash had salad and made an off hand comment that he was watching his weight. That should have tipped Max off. It wasn’t the salad that had worried Max, but the comment about his weight. Ash looked like he was about a hundred pounds soaking wet, he sure as heck didn’t need to worry about his weight. But Max had missed it and hadn’t even thought about it until Ash’s eating habits were practically thrown in his face. As he thought about such things, Max kept working on his paperwork until he came to one particular paper.

“I need your signature on this one.” Max ran the tips of his fingers over the paper and smiled as he did. It was a very important paper.

“Is it about the house? I told you - I don’t care what we get for it. Give it away. I don’t even want to think about it.”

“It’s not the house.” He held up the paper and let her look at it. He wasn’t a bit surprised when she sat next to him and carefully took the paper out of his hand. “Are you sure you want to? Don’t agree just because I said I want to.”

“Since when do I agree to something just because you want me to? No. I want to do it, too.” And her face became soft when she looked at the paper, as if it were something precious. Without another word she picked up a pen and signed her name on the bottom line. 

Then, Max handed her another paper. “And this one.”

“Ah, ha!” She snatched that paper from him with far less reverence. “And it’s about time. Marriage license. Soon, you’ll be all mine.” And she gave him a decidedly wicked look. “And don’t think you’ll get away, again - I’m not divorcing you a second time.”

Max put his face in his hands. “Are you planning to sign it or gloat?”

“Both.” But she did sign and handed it back to him. The minute he took it from her and put it down on his pile of paperwork that still needed to be finished, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close. “I love you.”

“And I love you.” He slipped his arms around her and started to pull her close for a kiss. 

Jessica’s eyes went wide. “The burgers!” And she sprang out of Max’s arms and ran back to the kitchen to rescue dinner.

“Forgive the interruption,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “Sir and Bruce have returned. They will join you shortly, though I expect Bruce may need to sleep.”

Tony did walk through the common room with Bruce leaning against his side. He didn’t stay for long, though. “Sorry, got to put this one to bed,” Tony cheerfully said while he kept one arm wrapped around a very sleepy looking Bruce to keep him on his feet. “We found your boy. He’s good. I think he broke some stitches, looked like there was a little blood on his shirt, but he’s doing fine. Phil and the others are bringing him back soon.”

Soon turned out to be over an hour later, when they all came into the common room and Ash was in the middle of an argument with Natasha.

“I am not criticizing,” Natasha said when they walked into the room. “Those were very good kills, very professional. Nice and clean. I simply don’t believe you killed that third man.”

“Yes, I did.” Ash walked quickly, a sure sign that he was done with the conversation. Unfortunately for him, Natasha was also a fast walker and wasn’t done with the conversation.

“I gotta agree with Nat,” Clint said. He went straight to the kitchen and grabbed drink from the refrigerator. “I can completely believe you did the other two - you still have that knife Miss Wong gave you, don’t you? - but that third one was battered and smashed into a crater in the ground. I really don’t think you picked up some guy who was about two hundred fifty pounds of muscle and smashed him into the ground hard enough to do that kind of damage.”

“Exactly,” Natasha agreed. “You do not have the necessary strength to inflict that damage. Hulk must have...”

“Hey!” Ash said, sharply. “I said I did it, just leave it alone. Don’t go blaming him for stuff!”

Phil, ever the peace keeper, cut into the conversation that was only moments away from getting out of hand. “No one is blaming Hulk for anything. We all know he only ever tries to protect Bruce, so if anything... unfortunate... happened, then we know it wasn’t malicious. I don’t know if you think Bruce or Hulk will get in trouble for defending themselves, but that’s nothing you have to worry about. You don’t have to take the blame for Hulk.”

“There’s no convincing some people,” Ash said with a huff.

Max felt he knew Ash pretty well, better than most people, so he felt confident in judging that Ash was lying. Ash did that a lot. In his defense, it was usually because he had no choice or, such as in this case, to protect someone. It almost made Max laugh. Leave it to Ash to protect the indomitable Hulk!

But Ash caught Max looking at him and scowled. “Yeah, you heard - I killed people, again. It had to be done. I was looking for whoever tried to kill Sing and I found these guys. They threatened me and shot Doctor Banner.”

And doing so had hurt him. Max could see it hidden behind those angry eyes and hear it under the firm growl in Ash’s voice and he feared that if he said the wrong thing, Ash might bolt just to be out of the room. It hadn’t been done on a whim, it hadn’t been malicious - Max knew Ash too well to think he’d do any such thing - but he didn’t doubt Ash had done it.

At that moment, when Max was trying to think of what to say to make Ash feel less like he was being a target, Jessica saved the day. She sauntered out of the kitchen. “I heard you went and got yourself hurt. What were you thinking, young man? Do you want to end up in the hospital, again? So help me, if you’ve done any real damage I’ll march you right back there myself!” She gave him a critical look up and down before she gave a dramatic sigh and said, “Well, I suppose now is as good a time as any. Instead of coming to the table looking like a ragamuffin, you go to our rooms and on the couch you’ll find some clothes. Change into something clean.”

Ash blinked at her, his mouth open. “You got me more clothes?”

“You only have two sets and this shirt is obviously too big for you. Now, go get cleaned up. Max, go look at his wounds.”

Max was just standing up, ready to pull Ash out of the room because he looked stunned that they’d gotten him more clothes, when Shunichi and Eiji burst in and when Eiji burst into a room, he really burst in.

“Ash!” He cried out. “Ash, everyone! Listen, listen!” He moved as fast as he was able to, almost running. His face was flushed and he had a smile on his face that was as big as the moon. He went straight to Ash and grabbed him by both arms. Then he pulled Ash close for a quick hug before he stepped away. He was nearly hopping up and down with excitement. A glance at Shunichi and that gentle smile told Max that Shunichi, too, was extremely happy about something. “Ash, Sing woke up!”

“What?” Ash went still for a moment before a tiny smile flickers across his lips. “He did? Just now?”

Shunichi said, “We just came from the hospital. Sing woke up for a moment, said a few words, then went right back to sleep. His doctor said it’s a very good sign. Very encouraging.”

“That’s right.” Once again, Eiji took hold of both of Ash’s arms. “He’s going to wake up. It will take a long time, but he will get well, I just know he will!”

And everyone was so happy at the news that they were still talking about it when Max took Ash back to their rooms so he could examine his wounds. While some stitches had broken, Max saw that Ash was healing remarkably quickly, so quickly in fact that he resolved to take Ash back to the hospital soon to see if the rest of the stitches could come out. He re-bandaged the knife wound from Lao and then the one from Foxx before he handed Ash the pile of clothes Jessica had earlier ordered for Ash. They’d been delivered while Ash had been out, so it made for a nice surprise.

“I’ll pay you back,” Ash said as he held the clothes carefully, as if he was afraid he’d damage them.

“It’s a present. Just accept it.” They weren’t really much. Jessica had ordered blue jeans and a few t-shirts, a sweater in case the weather turned cold, socks and underclothes. It wasn’t really a big deal and if Max knew Jessica, she was only getting warmed up, but Ash still held the pile of clothes like someone had handed him a treasure. Max hesitated before asking, but couldn’t just stay silent and said, “So... you killed some people today?”

“What do you want me to do? Apologize?” Clearly, that wasn’t something he’d do. “I told you - they tried to kill Sing and Doctor Banner.”

“Relax. I’m not blaming you for anything. I know you wouldn’t have done it if they hadn’t been a real threat. You gonna be okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m always fine.”

“Don’t lie right to my face.”

Ash looked away from Max.

So, ten minutes later, with Ash freshly dressed in his new clothes, they returned to the common room where everyone had gathered for dinner.

Doctor Banner had woken up and, though he still looked exhausted, hesitantly went to Ash. “I... I’m sorry if Hulk scared you. Back then. I’m told that he killed someone. I’m sorry.” He looked so remorseful that Max wanted to give him a hug and he wasn’t the type of guy to go around hugging other people.

Ash gave one of his long, drawn out sighs. “Are you really blaming yourself for killing the guy who tried to kill you? Dude... give yourself a break, will ya?” And that was all he had to say on the subject.

They all sat down to eat and, surprisingly, Jessica’s meal had turned out rather well. Much better than Max had expected. Everyone sat together at the big table in the kitchen and dinner was burgers and fries. However, she casually slipped a different plate in front of Ash. There was a burger on it with no bun and a pile of carrots. She whispered to him only barely loud enough for Max to hear, “It’s a veggie burger.” 

Michael noticed Ash had a different meal than everyone else and said to his mom, “I want carrots, too, please.” He let Jessica take half the french fries off his plate and replace them with carrots. 

After that, Eiji stared at Ash’s plate. “I love carrots.”

Ash pushed his plate close to Eiji’s and raked most of the carrots onto Eiji’s plate. 

Eiji, of course, smiled at Ash then put most of his french fries onto Ash’s plate. “We can share? You eat my fries and I’ll eat some carrots.”

And Ash would refuse Eiji nothing, so he ended up making everyone happy by eating everything on his plate while he and Eiji shared the french fries and carrots.

The evening was going very nicely, almost peacefully. Doctor Banner took advantage of the peace to bring up a topic he was interested in. “It’s a new D.N.A. testing procedure and it’s so accurate that I think it could really revolutionize the world. It’s my hope that it will be used to help send guilty people to prison for their crimes while also keeping innocent people from being convicted of crimes they didn’t commit. I still need to test it, though. I was hoping, would anyone be willing to help? I need some D.N.A. samples. It won’t hurt. I just need a bit of spit.” He looked hopefully around the room.

Everyone agreed. All The Avengers as well as all of Max’s people. Max was happy to help. As a man who’d been in prison, he was more than willing to give a little spit if it meant keeping an innocent person out of one. Even Ash decided he would help and gave a sample because, unlike Max, Ash knew what it was like to be unjustly sent to prison. Of course, his case had nothing to do with D.N.A. and everything to do with a dirty cop, an equally dirty prison warden, and Dino Golzine’s greed. Once everyone had given a sample, Doctor Banner went off to his lab to get to work.

After dinner was over most everyone sat in the common room, just relaxing. Max sat next to Jessica while Michael sat on her other side, leaning against her as he struggled to stay awake even though there wasn’t much going on. He just wanted to be awake with everyone. Even Ash seemed relaxed. He and Eiji were at the kitchen table where Ash was attempting to teach Eiji to play poker and, judging by the laughter, neither of them were taking it very seriously.

Ash-

It was still weird, to feel relaxed. He knew Gregory was out there with the Banana Fish and he knew he had to fix that, but, at just that moment, sitting with Eiji at the table, he was... happy. It felt weird.

Eiji frowned at the cards in his hands, then showed them to Ash. “Are these good cards?”

“Almost.” Ash looked at his own hand and took out a two cards. “Put these ones with yours and it’ll be a great hand. Give me your two of hearts and then I’ll have a better hand, too.” He supposed it was cheating, in a way, but Eiji seemed to be having fun and Ash wanted to find out if he could maneuver things so they’d both end up winning.

He’d killed people. Again. 

It was like it was some kind of bad habit he just couldn’t kick. If he stopped to think about it, he’d feel real bad about it, but so far he’d been too busy to think about what he’d done. He’d had to take care of Hulk for ages and then he’d had to figure out if Phil and his people were being honest and then he’d had to deal with things at The Pink Pig and he’d met Nick Fury and that was definitely a guy he wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of. He strongly suspected that Nick Fury might even have been able to intimidate Dino. After all that, he’d come back to The Tower and learned that Sing had woken up and then he’d made everyone happy by eating everything he’d been given so he’d really been much to busy to think about the fact that he’d hunted those men down, lured them somewhere quiet and he’d murdered...

Ash quickly said to Eiji, “I talked to Alex when I was at The Pink Pig today, about what my guys are doing with the money I gave them. I told you I’m giving everyone piles of money, right? Well...”

Flashback-

“What are you going to do with your money?”

“Not sure.” Alex took a gulp of his drink. He put his glass down in front of him and put both hands around the glass. “I was thinkin’... me and the guys were thinking... we gotta think about the future. Kong wants to finish high school. Bones likes cars - he always has - and he and I got to talking. We were thinking about opening up a garage.”

“That’s a good idea. You could do it. He’s great at repairing stuff and you’re good at managing people so you could run the office part of the operation. It’ll take time, ya know. And you should both get some schooling before you start - business and stuff.” Ash looked down at the bar in front of him. “Yeah, you guys can totally do it. How about the other guys? Did everyone get what they’re due?”

“Yeah. Some of the guys want to leave.” Alex met Ash’s eyes squarely, completely unafraid even though he knew that some gang Boss’ take such news very badly. “They wanna take their families away from the city and go somewhere quite. You know - like Ben. He’s got two little brothers. He doesn’t want them growing up here. Even with Golzine gone, we all know someone’s gonna come along soon and take his place and nothing’s really going to change. I said I’d tell you. Didn’t think you’d have a problem with it.”

“God, no. Smart of ‘em to get little kids out of here. Did you make sure Matt’s granma got his share of the money like I told you to?” When Alex said he had, Ash felt one more weight taken off his shoulders. She wouldn’t lose her apartment, after all. “Let me use your phone.” Without question or hesitation, Alex took his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Ash. Ash dialed a number and waited only a few minutes before the familiar, deep voice of Cain answered. “Alex? What’s up?”

“It’s me. I’m using his phone.”

“Well, if it’s not the benefactor of the poor and down trod!” Cain laughed as he said it. “That little gift you gave me has made my guys real happy, my man. There was enough for every one of my guys to have enough money to last a lifetime, if they’re not stupid with it. So, what can I do for you?”

“It’s business. Look, I told you the other day that we needed to have a meeting, but things got busy so a phone call will have to do. I wanted to warn you that one of Golzine’s guys is still on the loose.”

“From what I hear, a lot of his people made tracks the minute you started to make waves. Don’t get your hopes up that they’ll ever get caught.”

“I know. I know. This one’s different. He’s hanging around. He’s in the city somewhere and he’s got a chip on his shoulder.” Ash stared at the wall ahead of him, on the opposite side of the bar. “The guy is Gregory Dufort. He’s armed and he’s looking for me. He’s dangerous. Not the kind of dangerous of ‘get in your face and shoot you’ but more like ‘drag you into a dark alley and rip out your fingernails before he bashes your head in with a shovel’ kind of dangerous.”

Cain said, “Yeah, I know him. Saw him a time or two, but I never did business with Golzine. Always seemed to me that making deals with Golzine was like shaking hands with a rattlesnake - no matter what happened, I’d be the one to end up bitten. That Gregory was a piece of work, too. From what I hear, he did all of Golzine’s dirty work and it didn’t matter how dirty it was, nothing stopped him.”

“That’s sounds like Gregory.” Ash knew that if Dino sent someone to the torture chamber under the mansion then, most likely, it was Gregory who’d work them over to get whatever Dino wanted. “I just wanted to warn you not to go after him. If your guys see him, tell them to keep away from him. I’m sure he’s after me. He’ll want revenge after Dino died.”

“I thought you said Foxx shot him and then he fell off the top of that building into the helicopter fire. That wasn’t your doing.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m sure he still blames me.” Ash didn’t doubt that at all. With the fanatical loyalty that he’d had to Dino, Gregory would need a target to blame, a target to go after and Ash knew that he was the most convenient target to be had. So, Gregory would go after him and, so long as he could keep everyone out of it, Ash was alright with that. “He’ll kill anyone he thinks is in his way and, without Dino to control him, he’s got nothing to lose. He’s trying to change what he looks like to stay under the radar. I just saw him and he’s shaved off his beard and dyed his hair blonde.”

“Got it. You think he’ll come creeping around my place?”

“Not unless he thinks I’m there and I’ll stay away. Don’t worry - I’m pretty sure he knows exactly where I am.”

“You need some help?”

“No. I got this.” God knew he had enough innocent people involved, he didn’t need Cain and his people to put their necks on the line, again. “Take care of yourself. In case I don’t say it later.”

“You, too. And don’t sound so grim. It’s not the end of the world, yet.”

He hung up and Ash handed the phone back to Alex with a stern, “That goes for you, too. You and the guys keep away if you see Gregory. He’s got a hair trigger. I’ll deal with him.”

“Yes, Boss.”

End Flashback-

Eiji smiled at Ash over the top of his cards. “So, everyone gets money and you warned everyone to stay away from Gregory. You had such a busy day.”

Killed people. He’d killed people. Stop thinking about it!

Eiji’s smile faltered. “You’re worried. I can see it in your eyes. Phil said there wouldn’t be any trouble about those people you had to kill. His people confirmed they were HYDRA and you were defending yourself and Doctor Banner, so it was self-defense. He even said there was a security camera nearby that caught everything.” He reached over and patted Ash’s hand. “Don’t worry. It will all work out.”

Whether or not he got in trouble for what he’d done really wasn’t the issue - he had still killed people.

“Hey!”

Both Ash and Eiji turned when Max called out to them. 

“Come watch this!” 

Ash felt a lump of familiar, unpleasant nervousness in his gut at the unhappiness in Max’s voice, but he put down his cards and walked over to stand behind the couch where Max and Jessica were sitting. Eiji stood at his side. Everyone was there. Phil and all his Avengers were scattered around the room doing this or that, Ibe-san was reading a newspaper, and even Michael was sitting on the floor at his mother’s feet, playing with some action figures Tony had found in storage once he’d learned a very young child was going to be staying in his home. Together, everyone watched the news on the television.

The reporter on screen said, “We have some breaking news about the horrific story we presented only a few days ago about the now infamous Club Cod. An unnamed source has come forward saying that the witness who is set to testify in court about Club Cod, is Ash Lynx, an eighteen-year-old gang leader who has, in the past, been arrested for prostitution and murder. If this information is correct, we have to ask ourselves - can this witness be relied on? A known criminal is hardly the most trustworthy witness. However, we must remind viewers that, at this time, this information can’t be confirmed as the Ash Lynx in question was reported dead several months ago while in transit to the National Institute of Mental Health after his arrest for the mass murder of a rival gang leader and his gang.”

Jessica snapped, “Turn that off! Absolutely garbage!”

J.A.R.V.I.S. turned off the television at once.

“I gotta call George,” Max grumbled as he stormed out of the room.

Michael climbed up on the couch in front of Ash and looked up at him. “What ‘prostitution’?”

Ash could feel the blood drain from his face. “It’s... ah...” His mouth was very dry.

Jessica took charge of Michael and pulled him onto her lap to explain things to him, but Ash really didn’t hear any of it. The truth was out. He’d been expecting it, of course it would have happened the minute he went into court to testify, but he hadn’t thought it would be so soon or so blunt.

“Ash?” Eiji put a hand on Ash’s arm. “Are you alright?”

“Sure. Let’s go finish the game.” He went back to the kitchen table with Eiji following at his heels and tried very hard to ignore everyone watching him.

Less than twenty minutes later, J.A.R.V.I.S. announced that Ash’s lawyer had arrived.

“What the Hell is going on?” George thundered the minute he walked into the common room. “Who gave out his name!?”

Ash groaned and put his cards down on the table. “Will you relax? You’re gonna have a heart attack going on like that.”

“This isn’t a joke!”

“I agree. You really gotta lose a few pounds. I’m worried about your health.”

George looked like he was almost ready to explode before Phil stood up and said, “Take a seat, Mister Scott. We don’t know what happened. As far as I know, not even the police have been told that Ash is the witness, only Captain Jenkins and Detective Dickinson know. I don’t know how anyone could have guessed.”

“The News of New York,” Max growled, “Is the toilet bowl of journalism. They have no standards, morals, or integrity. The only thing those rats can be counted on is to spread rumors and outright lies. You’d get more truth from a teacup! No reputable journalist would ever work for them and no one with any sense would believe them.” He slapped a hand down on Ash’s shoulder. “Don’t you worry. As far as the whole world is concerned, you died and we can keep it that way until the trial. Can’t we, George?”

“We’re going to do our best.” He gave Ash a reassuring smile. “We’ll do everything we can. After all, unless they can prove something, then it’s all nothing more than meaningless rumor.”

Ash looked between Mister Scott and Max and felt bad that they were upset. “I don’t know why you’re both getting all worked up. It wasn’t going to stay a secret forever. As soon as the trial starts, everyone’s gonna know my name.”

“How can they do this?” Steve, who had been mostly quiet since the news broadcast, asked. “They can’t go talking about witnesses in criminal cases, can they? It’ll put the witness in even more danger.”

“They have the Freedom of Speech,” Tony told him. “Ash isn’t a minor, so that doesn’t protect him, and if they find out some information they can use it.”

“That’s right,” Mister Scott said. “Though I’d really like to know how they found this information. Now, you’re going to have to be especially careful until your court date, Ash. We’re going to try to keep alive the believe that you’re dead, but if someone who knows you sees you walking around and they start talking, then there won’t be much we can do about that. I do promise I’m going to try to protect you. Because this case puts you in so much danger and has the possibility of putting you in more danger because many of the people you name may want revenge and have the resources to send people after you even if they end up going to prison, we need to think about your future. I’m trying to convince the judge that exposing you in such a way will put you in danger for the rest of your life. It’s my hope that, at the very least, the judge will limit the number of people allowed in the courtroom, but it’s not guaranteed that he’ll agree and there may be reporters right in the courtroom sticking cameras in your face... Ash? Are you alright?”

Ash’s mind filled with the sound of a camera’s ‘click, click, click’ and he half-turned away from George. “Cameras? In my face? Damn.”

Max groaned. “I should have thought of that. Sorry, Ash.” When Steve asked what the problem was, Max said, “Ash doesn’t like cameras.”

“How about a practice run?” Tony suggested. “We could get you used to having someone pointing a camera at you before the big day and then, if there are any reporters around, it won’t bother you. I always hated reporters running around after me,” he looked at Max and Jessica. “No offense, but as soon as I had enough cameras pointed at me, I stopped caring about them.”

“That might not be a bad idea. In fact, it goes along with another idea I had,” Mister Scott said. He suddenly looked awkward. “Ash, now, look... I don’t want to worry you and I know you’ve already been through a lot, but given the types of people who would be happier if you didn’t give your testimony and that HYRDA is now involved, I think we all need to accept that... well...”

“That I might kick the bucket before the big day? Yeah. I thought about that.”

But Phil was quick to speak up with, “My people are going to make sure that doesn’t happen. Ash, you’re safe here. Today only happened because you didn’t want any help so you ran off. You ARE safe here.”

“Yeah. I get that. But, things happen and you can’t really promise to stop every threat. You don’t know what’s gonna get thrown at me. I might catch the flu tomorrow and die from the fever. You can’t stop that. And me running off... I had to.” Ash turned his attention back to George. “You want to record my testimony, don’t you?”

“That was the idea, but you don’t have to. If you do it, I can ask you all the questions I would ask in court and give you the opportunity to say anything and everything about Club Cod, the perpetrators, Golzine, and anything else you want to say.”

Max scratched the back of his head. “George, I’m not sure...”

“That’s right,” Jessica said. “Is this really necessary? It’s bad enough he has to go through this once.”

“Oh, cool it,” Ash said. “I have to do this sooner or later. Might as well get it over with and if I die before the big day, it won’t be a waste.”

“J.A.R.V.I.S. can record everything so you don’t have a camera pointed at you, if that’s the part that bothers you so much,” Tony offered. “You won’t even know he’s doing it.”

Ash managed a half-grin. “That kinda defeats the purpose of me getting used to having a camera pointed at me, doesn’t it? Don’t worry - I can do this.”

And so, ten minutes later, Jessica and Max had a quiet bicker about who would put Michael to bed because no one wanted him to hear what Ash needed to say. Max ended up taking Michael away while Jessica stayed in the common room where it was set up to record Ash’s testimony. Phil stood in front of Ash with a camera while Ash, alone, sat on a chair to be recorded.

Ash must have looked a lot more uneasy than he tried to act because Tony said, “Are you sure about this. You don’t have to.”

Ash didn’t like that someone who barely knew him could read him so easily, so he tried even harder to push his emotions away and to simply be indifferent. “Let’s just do it.” His eyes slowly shifted from Tony to the camera.

“Right.” Phil pressed a button on the camera. “We’re rolling.”

George spoke first, introducing himself and Ash. He said the date, the time, and where they were at the time of the recording along with why were they were making the recording. “I’ll ask some specific questions in a minute, but first I’ll allow my client to say everything he needs to say to the court. Go on, Ash.”

Ash looked directly at the camera and sat very stiffly, as if he had an iron rod for a spine. “Everyone calls me Ash Lynx. My real name is Aslan Jade Callenreese. I was adopted by Dino Golzine a few weeks ago and he legally changed my name to Ash Golzine. I’m eighteen years old. When I was eight years old I ran away from home. If you want to know why, go ask the Cape Cod police. It’s probably still in their records. When I was eleven years old I was caught trying to find food out behind some fast food joint. I got caught by Frog. His real name is Frank Zareb. He and two of his friends raped me and videotaped it. It’s on the internet. Just look up ‘Ash Lynx’ and you’ll find it. Frog sold me and I became the property of Dino Golzine. He put me in Club Cod as one of the merchandise. He rented me out to anyone who could afford me. All the kids there were drugged to keep them under control. I was kept at Club Cod until I was twelve when Golzine decided...” Ash paused and felt his throat constrict, as if giant, terrifyingly strong hands were wrapped around his throat, trying to stop his words. “Golzine said I didn’t have to stay there. He’d allow me to live in his home. I was Dino Golzine’s personal sex slave until I was able to get away from him when I was seventeen. Six years. Six...” His voice trailed away and his hands shook on his lap. He swallowed hard and looked away from the camera for a moment before he continued. Ash spoke about the Banana Fish drug and the murders of a child, Ash’s brother, his step-mother, and many others. He spoke about plots on the grand scale, involving nations and war. He spoke about kidnapping and the rape of an innocent bystander. “And they took my buddy, Shorter. They... Dino took Shorter just because he knew it would hurt me.” And those imaginary hands were back around Ash’s throat, squeezing. “Give me a minute, yeah?”

“Of course.” Phil turned off the camera and Ash walked very calmly out of the room.

In the hall outside the common room, Ash put a hand over his mouth. His stomach hurt. It roiled angrily. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the cool wall, but it didn’t help.

Everyone was going to know. It was bad enough when a bunch of perverts knew what had happened to him and what he’d done to keep himself alive for so many years - that stuff was all online, but only perverts would ever look at that stuff - but now EVERYONE would know. Kindergarten teachers and grocery store clerks and accountants and every other respectable person in the whole world would know and it wasn’t just the fault of that stupid news report - he had done it. He’d gone and told everything to that camera and it was recorded and J.A.R.V.I.S. probably recorded that stuff, too. It was done. All recorded forever and ever and he was going to have to talk about it, again, and in front of strangers and more cameras and click... click... click...

“Ash? Are you alright?” J.A.R.V.I.S.’ voice broke through Ash’s thoughts. “Would you like me to send for help?”

“I’m fine.” He swallowed hard and held his breath for a few seconds to get himself under control. “I’m good. Everything’s alright.” But even as he spoke, Ash started to walk towards the apartment he was allowed to share with Max’s family. In the middle of the living room, he froze for a minute. He felt dizzy and dirty and ugly and small. He heard his own voice, telling about stuff and the people and the whats and the wheres and the camera’s little red light was on to show it was recording and he saw The Avengers watching him and listening and the pity on their faces was unbearable. He wanted to hide. He wanted to go anywhere that people didn’t look at him, but he couldn’t. His dinner was heavy in his stomach and he wished he hadn’t eaten. He shouldn’t have eaten it. The day had been going too well, he should have known something would go wrong, something always went wrong. Ash walked very calmly, very deliberately, to the bathroom where he looked at himself in the mirror. He wished he could stop hearing his own words. He wished he hadn’t eaten and he wasn’t even sure why, just that it would have made things better. The temptation to bring it all up was great. He’d read that people did that, made themselves sick. It was tempting...

“Ash? Can I come in?” Eiji was in the doorway. Ash hadn’t closed the door when he’d gone into the bathroom and Eiji was watching him. No pity, just calm radiating from him.

“Yeah, sure.” Ash put his hands on the sink to steady himself because he felt unbalanced. “I’ll go back out and finish in a minute.”

“No. You won’t. Jessica told everyone you were done. Mister Scott went home.” Eiji went to stand next to Ash and moved close enough that their arms touched. “You can finish later, if you need to. Right now, will you sit?”

They moved to the bedroom Eiji was using and there, they sat together on the bed. Neither said anything for a long while and Ash was grateful for the silence. People talked too much. Eiji didn’t do anything, he just sat and waited. 

Ash cried. As much as he hated doing it because he knew J.A.R.V.I.S. was always watching and listening, he cried. After a short time, he got control of himself. “You don’t have to sit here.” Ash smiled for Eiji and sniffed when he wiped the tears off his face with his hands. “I’m not going to have a breakdown, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

Eiji put an arm over Ash’s shoulders and Ash didn’t feel a bit anxious about it. It was alright because it was Eiji’s arm and it was heavy and warm against him, like having a blanket draped over his shoulders. “I wish I could make you happy.”

“Don’t get sappy. I just want to sit here.” Because Eiji felt safe and he DID make Ash happy, even if Ash couldn’t come right out and say it. “Don’t tell Max I cried, okay?”

“Okay.”

Yut-Lung’s Mansion-  
Blanca-

Blanca woke slowly, with a pounding headache behind his eyes. He was sore all over and, before he even opened his eyes, he ran though a quick check to make sure there was nothing too seriously wrong. His finger hurt, but it wasn’t the worst pain he’d ever felt. Everything else was just a persistent ache. He could smell something in the air - lavender. There was a bird singing and a soft breeze against his face told him that a window was open. He was in a very soft bed and that wasn’t normal when he was working and he was working on... on something. What? What was he working on? It was important.

He had been in an old, very dirty apartment with an excellent vantage point. He had taken his handgun out and loaded it. He remembered sitting on the floor at a window, watching the people on the street outside, waiting for someone. Finding that person had been very important, he was sure.

Blanca opened his eyes and the light stabbed through his aching head.

What had he been working on?

There had been men in the room with him, men with guns. They wanted... wanted... wanted his rings.

His hand drifted up to his throat where he easily found the chain his rings hung on and traced the chain with his fingertips until he found the rings, the metal warm from resting against his skin. Both rings were there, right where they ought to be. His skin hurt. His finger. He raised his hand up to look at it and found that one of his fingers was wrapped in a splint. He’d broken his finger.

There had been guns in the apartment and they were going to take his rings... they were going to take Natasha’s ring! He couldn’t stand that, couldn’t bear even the idea of their filthy hands on her ring. He had shot at... not at the men... at a gas pipe. He’d jumped out a window and there had been heat and a noise so overwhelming that it seemed to fill the whole world. He seemed to have other memories - foggy and disjointed, floating in the confusion of his mind - but there was nothing solid to grasp onto. However, he did know where he was. The Lee mansion was very distinct and a glance out the window showed the garden that he knew so well. And if there were any further doubt, he heard the familiar voice of Yut-Lung from the garden.

“Has there been any sign of him?”

“Not yet, sir.” Fan’s voice replied. “We have people out searching all of Chinatown, but I think we may need to branch out a bit. Perhaps I might have leave to contact Ash’s gang?”

“Oh... if you must.”

Blanca smiled and could imagine a sulk on Yut-Lung’s face at having to ask Ash’s gang for help in looking for someone. He didn’t like asking for help and to be made to ask Ash for help must have been a real pain for him.

“Any news of the other rat my cats are hunting?”

Fan said, “We haven’t found him, but we do know that we aren’t the only ones on the lookout for Gregory Dufort. Our people report seeing gang members of Ash and Cain Blood looking around, asking questions that lead me to believe they are looking for Mister Dufort as well. We have also gotten word that the police and agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are all looking for him. With so many people hunting for him in one city, it is extremely unlikely that he will elude capture for long.”

Gregory.

A wave of calm settled over Blanca. Yes. He had been hunting Gregory. He was certain, without any doubt, that Gregory was a threat to his Kitten and that was not to be allowed. Blanca sat up and while he still ached, he pushed that away. He didn’t have time to be in pain. He found that he was dressed in nothing but a robe. He examined himself and found that, in addition to his apparently broken finger, he had a few burns here and there, a few lacerations, and more than a few bruises, but nothing that warranted immediate attention. His clothes, folded neatly on a chair next to the bed he’d been in were in rough condition, burned and torn in places, but were serviceable. So he dressed and made himself ready to resume his hunt. There were very few people who knew that he wore the rings or that they were so important to him. It was entirely possible that Gregory had seen the rings during Blanca’s time working for Golzine and had realized that Blanca always wore them and deduced that they were important. Perhaps he was working with the men who’d cornered Blanca in that apartment.

“And so you’ve returned to the land of the living.”

Blanca looked at the window where the voice had come from and smiled to see Yut-Lung standing there with an armful of flowers. “Good afternoon, Your Highness. Do I have you to thank for bringing me here?”

“You found your own way here. Don’t you remember?”

“I’m afraid not. My old brain seems to be a little hazy at the moment. I’m sure it will all come back to me soon enough.” As he spoke, Blanca went to sit on a low, cushioned bench that sat in front of the window. “Do you know what happened? I believe there was an explosion.”

“There was one that caused a bit of a stir. Was that you? Even The Avengers got involved. It’s not like you to make such a scene. Do you remember that Ash called?”

“No.” Having a patchy memory worried Blanca, but as there was nothing he could do about it, he dismissed the worry. 

“Well, I was eavesdropping and it seems that HYDRA is hunting you.” He leaned into the window a little and frowned at Blanca. “Why are you dressed? You’re still hurt, you should be sleeping.”

“Your concern warms my heart, but I’m not able to rest at the moment. I really must get moving, in fact. I have work to do.”

“You’re still hurt. I should throw you into the hospital just like Sing! You will get yourself killed and Ash will blame me. You DID give yourself a concussion, you know.”

“Did I?”

“You did.” Yut-Lung took one of his hands away from his bundle of flowers just long enough to wave the hand negligently in the air. “Not that it matters to you at all, but I did have a doctor come in and see to you and she was of the opinion that you should already be in a hospital. It was all I could do to convince her that I could manage you well enough on my own.”

“And I’m very glad you did, but I can’t stay, now. Injured or not, I have work to do.” Blanca put a hand up and rested the palm of his hand against his rings under his shirt. And he very suddenly remembered Natasha. He had seen her. Alive and happy, strolling down the street with a friend. Her hair had been red, like fire. Just like that, in nothing more than a split second, all the calm that he relied on to keep his life and his trigger finger steady burned away. Those people wanted Natasha’s ring. She was alive. Why? Why had she faked her death? Had she been forced to or had she chosen to? All those years he had thought she was dead, he had mourned her and cried for her. But she wasn’t dead. Anger and fear began to swamp his mind, he needed to find her and ask her what had happened. If she had been forced to fake her death, then why? If she had chosen to do it, had she found out who he was and been afraid of him? “You researched my wife. When you were trying to get me to sign a contract with you, you spoke about my wife.”

Yut-Lung nodded. “I did.”

“Then you knew she was alive.”

Again, he nodded. “I was surprised when you said she had died, but I thought you must have some reason for saying that. Perhaps you thought you were protecting her by keeping her relationship with you a secret.” He paused. “Are you angry with me?”

“No.” Because Yut-Lung had no way to know what was really going on, he’d merely found some information. 

“I thought you must have known she was alive. When I saw her photograph during my research, I knew at once that she was The Avengers’ Black Widow. Surely, you’ve seen her picture in the papers.”

“Of all my travel and study, I have never had reason to turn my attention to superheroes. I suppose I should do that, once my current mission is completed.” He forced back the chaotic emotions whirling around the thought of Natasha and settled back into a calm state of mind because he had work to do. 

“Sing was hurt. It was bad enough that he’s in the hospital, now. He woke up. It was only for a moment, but he spoke and his doctor said it was a good sign.”

Blanca looked at him, sharply. “Oh?” He thought for a moment and he did recall that Ash had said something over the phone about Sing getting beaten. He didn’t like that. Not at all. Sing was a nice boy and shouldn’t be hurt. “I’m very pleased that he’s doing better. I will find time to visit him. Are those flowers for him?”

Yut-Lung looked down at the flowers in his arms, as if he’d forgotten he was holding them. “For him? No. Of course not. I’m making a new poison. I’m getting bored with my current stock so I thought I’d try to make something new.”

Blanca felt a warmth of fondness for Yut-Lung. He was a mischievous lad and that he could exercise his intelligence and training merely because he wanted to see if he could do something was charming. Again, he found himself wondering how well Yut-Lung might take to a gun. He was willing to train him, but an instinct told him that a knife might be more to Yut-Lung’s taste. “Good luck with your new experiment. Now, if you’ll excuse me - I need to find Gregory. I’m sure he’s wondering where I am.”

To Be Continued...


	31. Ash's Goobers

Chapter 31: Ash’s Goobers

Gregory-

The smell was God-awful as Gregory sat in the rubbish on the garbage scow he was currently hiding on. It was an excellent shelter, he thought. Lonely and uninviting. He had a tranquilizer gun sitting on his lap. He knew plenty of people and most of them owed him in some way or the other. The tranquilizer gun came to him courtesy of a zoo keeper who had once needed a gamboling debt to be forgiven and had gone to Papa Dino for help. So he had given Gregory the tranquilizer gun when asked and didn’t question it. Gregory took the Banana Fish drug from the metal suitcase. It took only a moment and steady hands for him to empty the vial of Banana Fish into one of the tiny tarts normally used to sedate animals. Then he loaded the dart into the gun and was ready.

At The Avengers’ Tower-  
Phil-

After Ash had left the room and Eiji had swiftly followed him, the room went uncomfortably quiet. Jessica had called an end to the testimony and Mister Scott thanked everyone for their time as he began to gather up his paperwork and get ready to leave. “Tell Ash I don’t think anything else will be necessary - he was very thorough - but if he has more he wants to say, I’ll come by any time.”

Thorough wasn’t the word for it. Phil had heard more details than he wanted to. Steve looked dreadfully sad, but Tony seemed like he was only barely holding his temper in check, which was probably good because there was no target for him to aim at. Phil thanked Mister Scott for his time and was about to escort him out of the building, when J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “Phil, may I have a moment of your time? I have a question?”

“Of course.” Phil left Mister Scott with Steve while he went into an empty hall where they wouldn’t be overheard. “Is there a problem?”

“Not a problem, merely an observation. It seems logical to me that some person who does not have Ash’s best interests at heart gave his name to that news station. However, bringing to light the fact that his reported death on the way to The National Institute of Mental Health was nothing but a lie will surely give Ash’s testimony more weight and make everything harder for his enemies. His mere appearance in court will prove something underhanded is going on. I conclude that no one would have done this who has anything to lose in regards to Ash’s testimony about Club Cod or Banana Fish.”

“I agree. Anyone who wanted this issue to fade into nothing, would want the world to think Ash was dead and gone so they could quietly kill him. There’s also another issue. According to Detective Dickinson, when Golzine adopted Ash,” and that thought still turned Phil’s stomach. “All the legal charges against Ash, every record of crimes he was accused of disappeared. Golzine must have had powerful enough connections to make that happen. He wouldn’t want his heir-apparent to have any baggage, I suppose. If all charges were erased, then how did this unnamed source tell the News of New York that Ash had been a prostitute? Even if Golzine hadn’t erased that part of Ash’s past, Ash said he hadn’t done that since he escaped Golzine when he was seventeen, so that would have been sealed in his juvenile record. So, whoever gave the information to the news station must know Ash personally or knew how to dig for dirt on him.”

It was all very worrying. “J.A.R.V.I.S., would you be able to find out who the unnamed source is?”

“I have already made an attempt to find that information, but whoever did it knows how to hide themselves very well.”

And there was nothing else to be done. Phil went back and took Mister Scott back down to the lobby. In the elevator, Phil said, “If you’d like some help with that news station, I’m sure Tony would be happy to lend you a lawyer or two. He has quite a few of them.”

“I may take that offer. That news station... despicable. Just because you CAN do something, doesn’t mean you SHOULD! Ash is only an adult by a few months, you know. He’s practically still a child. They have the freedom of speech, but what they did could, possibly, be considered witness intimidation if Ash thinks his safety has been endangered.”

“Has it?”

Mister Scott gave him a dry look. “You’re not that foolish. Of course it has. Anyone who has anything to lose will know who to go after and it certainly didn’t help that they showed his face! His case is strong, but to insinuate that he’s nothing more than a low-life thug just because he had a rough life... it’s inexcusable!”

That Ash’s lawyer could feel so strongly about defending Ash was reassuring. “Just give me a call if you need any help dealing with that news station. I feel certain Tony would be very happy to lend a hand. He has no great love of the media.”

They shook hands before Mister Scott left the building and Phil turned to go back up. He was nearly back at the elevator when an unusual sight caught his attention, a group of boys walked into the lobby, all of them serious and wary, looking around suspiciously. He recognized them at once and headed towards them.

“Good afternoon.” Phil smiled when he came close to them. Ash’s gang. They were impossible to mistake. “I take it you’re here to cause more trouble?”

The boys gave each other a silent look before Alex spoke up. “No. No trouble. Look, we need to talk to Ash.”

“Of course. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you.” Considering the mood Ash had been in when he’d nearly run from the room earlier, Phil wasn’t at all sure Ash would want to see anyone. “Could you please wait here and I’ll see if he’s available?”

He stepped away from Ash’s friends and took out his cellphone. He pressed a button which connected him directly to J.A.R.V.I.S. and said, “J.A.R.V.I.S., will you let Ash know he has visitors and see if he feels up to coming down?”

“Yes, Phil,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said in his usual, mild way. A moment later, he said, “He is coming down. Eiji is coming with him. Eiji seems excited to see their friends, but Ash is subdued.”

In His Borrowed Bedroom-  
Ash-

Ash didn’t cry for long. He couldn’t just spend all his time crying - he’d never get anything done like that. He and Eiji sat together and it was comfortable. Ash could have stayed like that for years. But, the longer he sat with Eiji, the more he heard a vile little voice whispering to him and it sounded like Dino.

“He can’t possibly like you. He’s strong and good. Look at you. What good are you to him?”

Ash chanced a look at Eiji out of the corner of his eye. Eiji WAS strong and good. No matter what kind of horrible things happened to him, Eiji had never walked away from Ash. He’d always been there, right in the thick of it, always supporting Ash. And Ash wanted to give Eiji something. He wanted to prove the whispering voice in his head wrong and show that he could do some good for Eiji.

“Say, what do you want?”

Eiji stretched his arms over his head. “Right now? I’m hungry, so a sandwich would be good. Maybe a ham sandwich? Or pasta. I like pasta. How about fried chicken? You want some fried chicken?”

“No. Not lunch. I mean, what do you really want? More than anything else?” He had all Dino’s money so if Eiji wanted a motorcycle, a mansion, or a diamond encrusted pole-vaulting pole, Ash could probably get it done and he very much wanted to do something for Eiji. He wanted to make Eiji happy and, in his experience, most people were made happy by stuff. “Think of the most crazy thing you’ve ever wanted.”

“Crazy?” Eiji leaned a little closer to Ash until their arms touched. “Really, really crazy?” As he said it, Eiji turned slightly towards Ash and smirked up at him.

There were suddenly an uncomfortable number of butterflies in Ash’s stomach. ‘Is he...flirting? Oh, God! What do I do?’ “Yeah. Really, really crazy. What do you want?”

Eiji turned fully towards Ash, still looking up at him. He put a hand lightly on Ash’s hand where it rested on the bed between them. His hand was rough, calloused, and felt strong. “I wouldn’t want to be demanding.”

Ash’s mouth went dry and a twist of unhappiness curled up in his mind as he began to suspect what Eiji wanted - the same thing practically everyone else wanted from him. Ash hadn’t thought he’d have to worry about that with Eiji. But, it was true that most people liked that sort of thing and there was no reason why Eiji wouldn’t want it. And it wasn’t like Eiji would ever touch or take without permission, he definitely wasn’t like that! He’d never hurt Ash.

And Ash had a sudden flash of memory of when he’d been younger and talking to Blanca and how he’d declared that he never, never wanted to have sex because he would never want to do that kind of thing to someone he liked and, if that other person liked him, they’d never make him do it. But Eiji was still watching him and Ash wanted to make him happy, he didn’t want to deny Eiji a single thing. After all, if he could that stuff for Dino and Marvin, he sure as heck could do it with Eiji if it would make Eiji happy. “I can take it. What do you want?”

But Eiji sighed and shook his head. “No good. You won’t want to do it.” He looked disappointed. “I think you won’t be interested.”

“Is it because of what I look like?” Ash gestured down at himself, clearly reminded of how inferior he’d felt only a short time ago when he’d watched Eiji exercise and talk with Ibe-san. Thoughts of Eiji’s muscles danced through Ash’s mind and a hot blush crept over his cheeks. He roughly cleared his throat. “Because if it’s the way I look, I can change.” 

“Eh? You don’t have to -”

Ash kept talking, getting more and more uncomfortable as the awkward conversation dragged on and Eiji didn’t seem a bit uneasy. “Do you think I’d look better with muscles? Blanca always told me to beef myself up so I’d be stronger so maybe it’s time I take his advice. I could lift weights and stuff. You know - exercise.”

Eiji’s eyes grew soft and he leaned more heavily against Ash. His fingers drifted from the back of Ash’s hand to his wrist and Ash’s skin felt hot under the touch. “Oh... Ash. THAT is what I really, really want.”

“It is? So you want - ”

“An exercise partner!” It was Eiji’s turn to interrupt. He abruptly beamed up at Ash. “We can work out together! Do you like running? I love running and you’re very good at it, at least in short bursts. I’ve always wanted to have someone to exercise with and this will be great! And you can try weight lifting and swimming and rock climbing - I bet you’d be great at rock climbing!”

Ash had to wonder how someone as smart as he was supposed to be could completely misread the situation and he blurted out, “I thought you want to have sex!” Inside, Ash cringed. How had the conversation gone from giving Eiji a present to... this?

“...” Eiji just blinked at him. “Ah... I don’t understand your joke.”

“It’s not a joke. That’s what I thought you were trying to tell me! And I don’t want to, but if you want to, then I will. I’d do it for you.” He hesitated. “You really just want to exercise together?”

Eiji was red as a tomato. “I like exercising.”

“Oh, God. Sorry. I couldn’t have screwed that up more if I tried.”

“It’s okay.” Eiji patted Ash’s arm. “And about... you know... sex. We don’t have to worry about that stuff. We’re okay like we are. Aren’t we?”

Ash, desperately relieved, smiled. “Yeah. We’re okay.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. interrupted the moment with, “Excuse me, but you have visitors in the lobby, Ash. Phil asked me to have you come down if you feel up to it. You don’t have to.”

“Visitors?”

“Your friends. I believe they are Alex, Bones, and Kong. They would like to speak with you.”

Ash went cold. Alex watched the news. He watched the news every day and always watched it on the television at the Pink Pig, the television that sat right on the bar where everyone - every single member of Ash’s gang! - could see and hear it. He’d know. Everyone would know and Ash hadn’t been ready for them to know, yet. No help for it. He straightened his back and stood up. He’d gotten very used to the respect his guys gave him and to face losing that, even to put away the monsters from Club Cod and the scum involved with Banana Fish... it was hard. He didn’t want them to think badly of him.

Eiji went with Ash without asking, but didn’t seem to see the gravity of the situation they were walking into. 

“You don’t have to come down,” Ash told Eiji. “I can handle this.”

“No, no.” Eiji happily followed Ash into the elevator. “I want to see everyone. I haven’t seen Bones since before he was hurt.”

Ash couldn’t say ‘no’, not when Eiji had been so understanding about Ash’s little freak out. 

‘I really am a freak. Cripes! Who reacts like that? All he did was touch my hand and I start thinking he’s as bad as all those other guys and that he only wants THAT from me. I’m garbage friend. Maybe he does want THAT, but not from me.’ 

That would have been just fine because Ash didn’t really want people to think about him that way. But if Eiji found someone else attractive (someone like Thor who had too many muscles for Ash’s peace of mind) and wanted to spend all his time with that person... well. Ash could learn to live with it. So long as Eiji was happy. 

When they arrived in the lobby, Eiji didn’t waste a minute and hurried right over to where Alex, Bones, and Kong were waiting near the receptionist’s desk. There were hugs all around. “Your arm!” Eiji was all sympathy for Bones and his broken arm. “How awful! I’m sorry I didn’t know you were hurt.”

“He’s okay,” Kong reassured Eiji. “Ash took care of everything.”

Eiji gave Ash such a look of pride that Ash was taken aback. “Of course he did. Ash takes care of everyone.”

Alex, Bones, and Kong were just as happy to see Eiji as he was to see them and, for a moment, their grave attitudes were replaced by smiles and gentle teasing about Eiji really needing to learn not to stand in front of bullets. Ash was tempted to let it go on, but Phil was watching and more and more people in the lobby were starting to watch the noisy little gathering.

“If we’re gonna do this,” Ash said, dully. “Let’s go somewhere quiet.”

Phil took them to an unused conference room several floors up. “I thought you didn’t like elevators,” Phil said, quietly, once they were inside the elevator.

“Eiji’s hurt. I’m not going to make him walk up and down all those stairs.” But Ash kept thinking about the elevator at the National Institute of Mental Health when he’d tried to take Doctor Alexis Dawson out of the place where the world could see what Banana Fish would do to a person. He kept thinking about how he and Doctor Dawson had almost fallen from the top of the elevator and how close to death - a fingertip length - they’d been. He didn’t like elevators at all.

Everyone was quiet in the elevator, even Eiji who seemed to be slowly realizing that everyone was tense and somber. Once they were all in the conference room, no one sat in any of the many chairs surrounded the huge, polished table in the center of the room. Phil took a discrete position near the door and Ash wished he’d just leave because he really didn’t need an audience. He even wished Eiji would leave, but he couldn’t find it in himself to tell Eiji to go because Eiji stood at his side and that gave him a small measure of courage. 

When Alex, Bones, and Kong stood in front of Ash, like a terrible united front, Ash drew in a deep breath. “Well, I suppose you saw the news.”

Bones burst out, “Alex took us in the back to see it on his phone in private and I knew you were gonna tell everyone about Dino and the stuff he did, but I didn’t know you was a - ”

“A whore? Yeah. I was.” He kept his back straight and his voice steady because if he was going to fall in their eyes, he sure as anything wasn’t going to make a scene about it!

“It’s true, then?” Alex asked. When Ash silently nodded, Alex hung his head. “I’m sorry, Boss. If I knew, I’d have helped you.”

“Us, too!” Bones pointed to himself and Kong. “We would’ve helped.”

Kong, worryingly, looked like he was on the verge of tears and sniffled. “And after all the times you helped us... I never guessed.”

“Yeah.” Bones patted Kong on the back, comfortingly. “After Alex showed us the news, we went back into the main room of the club, someone else had turned on the t.v. and everyone was watching.”

Kong added, “And then everyone was talking ‘cause no one knew anything about it and most of the guys thought it was a lie, but it would be a really weird lie. You hid it real well.” Again, he sniffed and his eyes started to water. Kong had always been sensitive.

Alex looked angry. “We should have known. You’d have known if one of the guys was doing something like that. We never even guessed anything was wrong.” Alex met Ash’s eyes easily. “We wanted to tell you - we’re sorry. We would have helped if we could.”

And Ash felt like his brain froze for an instant and he thought he must have heard that wrong.

“Look, Boss,” Alex said, stepping a little closer. “We get why you hid it. I’m gonna guess Dino made you do it. None of the guys ever saw you walking the streets.”

“Dino made me too expensive for that. I was sent out on appointments, usually to fancy hotels.” Ash spoke without really thinking. His guys were taking it too well. He could hear his heart racing because this wasn’t anything like what he’d expected. “Any of you got any comments about that?”

“Don’t be angry,” Bones said. “You didn’t think we’d turn on you, did you? You’re our Boss, just like you were yesterday and the day before. Nothin’s changed.”

Ash had no idea how he was supposed to feel. “All the guys agree with ya?”

“Yeah.” Bones reached up and tugged at his braid. “You really are surprised, aren’t you? Boss, you’re always helpin’ us. When I get hurt you make sure I go see a doctor and get patched up. When Kong’s mom got sick, you made sure he got enough food for his family until she got better. I remember when Alex’s old man was beating on him and you made him stop. Every time we need help, you’re there. So, now... you know...”

Kong, as quiet as ever, said, “We trust you, Boss. So, you know... you can trust us, too.”

“Yeah,” Ash half-turned away from his guys. His eyes were misty. “Whatever. You goobers. I mean - how stupid can you be to feel bad about not stopping Dino? What do you think you guys could do about Dino? If you had tried to help, he’d have had you all killed and then who would I boss around? Don’t be dumb.” 

His guys smiled and laughed and Ash - realizing that he was maybe starting to lose the scary demeanor that kept everyone in line - started to smile, too.

Phil’s cellphone rang. He answered it and, after only a few seconds, he hung up and said, “There’s been a robbery reported at your condo, Ash. Max wants to head over there.”

And Ash quickly pushed everything else, from what the news had said about him, to the misunderstanding with Eiji, and his gang being better than he could hope for and focused himself on the new business.

Within ten minutes, Ash, Max and Ash’s on-duty bodyguards - Phil and Clint - all went to the condo. Jessica, of course, had wanted to go, but neither she nor Max had wanted Michael to go so she stayed at The Tower with him. At the condo, Ash insisted on taking the stairs instead of the elevator as there was no rush. If someone had broken in, they’d probably already taken what they wanted and left. The minute they opened the door onto the correct floor, Ash, out of habit, started to walk down the hall first in order to take the brunt of any danger, but Clint and Phil both gently waved him back and told him to walk with Max.

“Stuff like this is why we’re here,” Clint told Ash, cheerfully. “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of everything.”

But it turned out there wasn’t much to take care of. They found Captain Jenkins and Charlie at the door of the condo. Captain Jenkins said, sounding annoyed, “There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong here. The door is still locked and your neighbor said she hasn’t seen or heard anything suspicious.”

Ash fished out his key and unlocked the door. Captain Jenkins and Charlie insisted on going in first, but there was no need for the caution. The place was empty. Phil and Clint went in next, then Max followed. Captain Jenkins and Charlie left when it became clear to everyone that there was nothing to be done.

“Contact us for any reason,” Captain Jenkins spoke to everyone as he got ready to leave. “Looks like this was just a prank call, but if you find that anything’s missing we need to know about it.”

As soon as they were gone, Phil said, “Max, take a look around and see if anything is missing or broken.”

And all the while, Ash stood at the door and thought.

Sitwell-

In the lobby of the building where Ash’s condo was, Sitwell watched the front doors until he saw Ash, Max Glenreed, Phil, and Clint hurry in. For some strange reason, they chose to take the stairs up instead of the elevator. He waited a good long while before he got in an elevator and pushed the button for the top floor.

He was firmly convinced that it would only take a few manufactured incidents to convince Ash that Sitwell was the only person he could trust and, from there, it would be simple to lead Ash to HYDRA. Sitwell had done his research and discovered the condo. A casual conversation with one of the building’s residents told him that the person who lived in that condo fit the description of Ash Lynx almost perfectly. The building had security cameras which he was able to hack into and he found footage of Ash, Max Glenreed, Jessica Randy, and the little boy coming and going from the condo. He’d had no hesitation at all about pulling a few strings and making a few phone calls and, before long, it was falsely reported to the police that the apartment had been broken into.

By the time Sitwell stepped out of the elevator, Ash was in the hall, alone. The door of the condo was open and Sitwell could hear people moving around and talking inside. He said, “Mister Lynx? I was walking by the building and I thought I saw you walk in. What brings you here?”

“Oh, just here to pick something up.”

It almost made Sitwell smile. Ash was guarded and unwilling to let even small details of his life slip. That sort of suspicion was an excellent quality in a HYDRA agent. “Well, I’m glad I caught you. In fact, I was just on my way to your temporary home to give you a little news. It’s not exactly good news, but I hope it might give you a little comfort. I wanted to let you know, in person, that I had a word with that news station - News of New York- about their indiscretion about releasing your name to the public. I find it reprehensible that anyone would do that to you.”

“Yeah?” Ash lowered his face a little. “Funny that a guy I don’t know cares so much.”

“I don’t know why you’d think it was odd. You’re a good young man and, from what I’ve learned about you, you deserve better than what you’ve been dealt. Phil said in his reports that you’re very personable and that your friends respect you a lot. You’re intelligent and compassionate. Oh,” he said when Ash’s eyes narrowed, unhappily. “Don’t think that Phil’s gossiping about you. But your case is an official mission for him and his Avengers. You’re just business to them. It’s nothing personal.” Sitwell picked every word carefully. “So he had to submit a few reports about you. Of course, he has kept quiet about most everything in the interest of keeping you safe. What I’m trying to say is that I think you’re worth helping.”

Ash turned his head a little, just enough to look into the condo. “Well, that’s real nice of you.”

It still amazed Sitwell that Ash had managed to rob Dino Golzine and get away with it. He’d taken so much that, according to the real estate paperwork Sitwell had found, Ash had bought a multi-million dollar condo in cash. Clearly, he was a young man who’d grown used to comfort and Sitwell was confidant the power HYRDA could offer Ash would lure him to them. Money was all well and good, but to someone with Ash’s background, power and control was surely the ultimate temptation.

Sitwell continued, “I’m afraid that the damage is done, but at least that news station won’t report any more about you except to do a segment on their show that their unnamed source was mistaken and they apologize for any confusion. It may help... a little.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”

“Well,” Ash said, after a moment. He spoke lightly, with an easy smile that Sitwell almost believed. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“I just wanted you to know that the whole world isn’t against you. I suppose it must seem like that, sometimes, but at least you have the people who care about you, right? I mean, you’ve known Mister Glenreed and Ms. Randy for quite a while, haven’t you?”

Still, Ash didn’t look at him. “A while.”

The first time Sitwell had found that Ash and Max Glenreed might have met would have been when they’d both been incarcerated in the New York State penitentiary at the same time and as Ms. Randy had been living in California at that time, he would make an educated guess and say that Ash might have known her for a few weeks and possibly even less. Hardly any time at all, certainly not enough time for someone with Ash’s background to form real trust or attachment and, for Sitwell’s purposes, that was excellent.

“It’s great that you have those people close to you. People you don’t have to doubt. And you’re so good to them.” He looked around the condo, appreciatively. He wasn’t an especially materialistic man, but it was easy to see the quality of the condo. The place was practically dripping in wealth from the art of the walls to the modern furnishings. Even the location spoke to the price tag on the condo - a penthouse in one of the most expensive buildings in all New York, it was a home many dreamed of and Ash Lynx had basically given it to Mister Glenreed and Ms. Randy. “Why, I doubt they’d ever be able to afford to live somewhere like this without you. I suppose they’re very thankful they met you. You must make their lives a lot easier.”

Ash didn’t respond.

Sitwell made sure to go in and say ‘hello’ to Phil and the others and offered to help before he left and, as he did, he made a point of saying to Ash, “Well, I should be going. You really don’t need me here, but if you do need anything, even if you just want to talk to someone a little more removed from the situation, please feel free to contact me at any time.”

Ash-

Ash watched Sitwell leave and had a bad feeling. He waited until Sitwell had entered the elevator and the doors closed behind him. He even waited until the numbers above the doors showed that the elevator had gone down to the ground floor. Sitwell had just happened to see them on the street and then followed them up to tell Ash he’d put thumbscrews on the news station to get them to stop talking about him? Seemed weird. Sitwell thought Max and Jessica were happy to know him because of the Condo? It wasn’t a very subtle hint that he thought they only stuck around because Ash had a mountain of money, but Max had known Ash when he was nothing but an angry kid in prison without a penny to his name and he’d stuck by Ash back then. He’d gone out of his way and put himself in danger to help Ash.

“Hey, Phil,” Ash said as he walked into the condo.

“Yes?”

“Do you trust Sitwell?” Ash told him what Sitwell had said out in the hall.

“I’ve always thought he was trustworthy. In fact, I’ve put my life in his hands many times. I expect it’s just as he said, he happened to see you outside and thought he’d deliver the message personally. ” Then he looked brightly around the room. “And it looks like nothing was taken. In fact, Max doesn’t think anything was touched. If we’re lucky, it was some sort of mistake.”

“And if we’re unlucky?”

“If we’re unlucky,” Phil kept smiling. “Then I may be unhappy when I look into why Sitwell just happened to be passing by as you rushed here to investigate a false burglary report and stayed long enough to insinuate that your friends don’t care for you. At the very least, it’s a bit insensitive. But don’t worry. I’m sure it’s not as bad as it sounds.”

Later That Night-  
Ash-

It was late when Ash finally lay down to sleep. The day had been terrible, having to actually talk about all that stuff that he’d done and things that had been done to him. He was exhausted. On the couch in the living room, Ash stared up at the ceiling. Everything was quiet and he liked the quiet. It was almost relaxing, but he couldn’t forget that Gregory and the Banana Fish were still out in the world and that meant people’s lives were in danger. If Gregory used it on someone, that would be very bad, but if he sold it to someone who wanted to recreate it like Dino had, then everything Ash and his people had gone though would be for nothing.

Lightly, Ash’s fingers traced over the bandage on the wound Lao had given him before he reached up to do the same to the one on his shoulder. Both were healing so quickly. He felt relatively strong. 

‘I gave Mister Scott my testimony and there’s only a little left to tell. As soon as I record the rest of what I know, then I won’t actually be needed in court. Mister Scott can just show the recording. I couldn’t go after Gregory before because if I die before the court date, then so many guilty people would never be punished for what they did at Club Cod. But that won’t matter with my testimony recorded.’ 

He was pretty sure most of his people would argue with him about the little plan he’d been working out and, therefore, hadn’t decided if he was actually going to tell anyone or not. The biggest problem with not telling anyone would be escaping The Avengers’ Tower. The biggest problem with telling people what he was doing, would be that he was certain at least a couple of The Avengers would want to tag along and he didn’t want to take the chance of other people getting hurt while he was working. Banana Fish had been the death of too many people, already.

For a moment, Ash considered everything that might go wrong with his plan, including the fact that he was going to worry Eiji and tick off Max, Jessica would yell at him, his injuries might not be as healed as he thought they were, and that Gregory might have already sold the Banana Fish and Ash might not be able to track it down, but he couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. Banana Fish had to be destroyed.

A door opened and Ash immediately closed his eyes. It was a silly thing to do, there were no enemies around, but he closed his eyes to listen before he would chose whether or not to show he was awake. Sometimes, people said things he wasn’t supposed to hear if they thought he was asleep and it was always a good idea to collect information he wasn’t supposed to have. Sometimes, it back fired because Marvin liked to creep on him when he was asleep and would sneak into his room late at night if he thought he could get away with it. Dino had caught him at it once and Marvin had suffered for touching without permission. Dino’s permission, of course. Ash’s permission had never mattered.

The thoughts and memories of Dino and Marvin were banished when Ash heard Jessica’s voice.

Jessica said, softly, “What if he leaves, again? We both know he can do it. If he decides to leave and gets into trouble... he might not come back.”

At the worry in Jessica’s voice - how disturbing to hear her sounding so soft! - Ash let his eyes slip open just enough to see them standing in the doorway of their bedroom. They were facing him and Max had an arm draped over Jessica’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry. He’s a lot more capable than people give him credit for.”

“And he’s not nearly as capable as some people think he is. Including himself.” She turned her head to look at Max. “I want Ash at the wedding. If he gets himself killed...” Jessica sniffed, as if she would cry. “I want to get married as soon as possible, before anything happens to him.”

“You don’t want a proper ceremony?”

“We had a proper ceremony. That one ended with a divorce. I had the big white dress and you in a tux and two hundred people in a cathedral. This time, I want you and me standing together with Michael and Ash and Shunichi and Eiji. It’s all I need. It’s all I want.”

Max leaned his head to the side and rested it against the top of Jessica’s head. “You read my mind, honey.”

They left, going back into their bedroom, and the minute he heard the door close behind them, Ash fully opened his eyes. He felt entirely overwhelmed in a way that he’d never felt before. It was a tremendous feeling, but he didn’t feel like he was drowning or being suffocated. He felt important.

“Ash?” J.A.R.V.I.S. whispered. “Your heart rate is elevated. Are you upset or happy about what you overheard?”

“You’re still nosy.” Ash rubbed his face with both hands. They really wanted him there. They wanted him, no matter how much trouble he was. He couldn’t benefit them in that situation. All he could do was stand around and watch, but they still wanted him to be there and it was important to them. He cleared his throat and said, “Wanna play some Go? I don’t think I’ll fall back to sleep.”

“I thought you might say that,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said, archly.

“Are you laughing at me?”

“I wouldn’t dare. Shall we pick up where we left off on the last game or would you like to start over?”

“Let’s finish the game we already started.” Ash closed his eyes momentarily and visualized the Go board in his mind.

The day had been terrible, but maybe not entirely terrible.

To Be Continued...


	32. Found

Author's Note: The idea of 'Chinatown's Local Council' is from the manga 'The Petshop of Horrors'

Chapter 32: Found

Peter-

He was scared and cold and sick and hungry. His whole body ached terribly and his stomach felt really bad, like he was going to be sick even though he was hungry. He was sweaty and couldn’t stop shaking. He’d felt bad for a long while and it was like it was never going to go away.

Night had fallen and the city was even scarier at night. He was supposed to be at home, on his cot with all the others. He was supposed to be warm and fed. Peter sniffed miserably and kept walking. People stared at him. He didn’t like that. People were scary. He wished he’d stayed with the nice boy he’d bumped into earlier - the boy with very long hair. But there had been a policeman and he wasn’t supposed to talk to policemen... Papa Dino had been so mad the last time Peter had spoken to a policeman.

Memory-

He was going to see Mister Kippard and carried a box marked as ‘Cape Cod Catering Service’ in his hands. It was a game, Papa Dino had explained the first time Peter had done it. The game was that he was to go to Mister Kippard’s hotel room and make everyone who saw him believe he was a delivery boy. 

Peter didn’t know what a delivery boy was or how to act like one, but he wore the suit and tie Papa Dino gave him and he carried the box to Mister Kippard’s room. Once there, he did what he was supposed to do and then he went back home. That was how it had always worked. But then it hadn’t. It hadn’t because he’d stepped into the elevator that would take him up to the right floor where Mister Kippard’s room was and when he’d turned around, Ash was there.

“Ash!” Peter dropped the box and threw his arms around Ash, hugging him tightly. “Oh, Ash, I missed you! Where have you been? I went to Papa Dino’s home twice and you weren’t there!”

Ash hugged him back and smiled. “I’m sorry, Peter. I’ve had a lot of things to do. Even right now I have something to do.” Ash was dressed for work, too, and Peter wondered if Papa Dino had sent Ash out to work for Mister Kippard with Peter. That had never happened before, but Peter wouldn’t mind because Ash was nice. Ash wore a suit and tie, just like Peter, and he wore glasses that made him look a little different, but not too much. “Have you been alright?” Ash turned around and pushed a button on the elevator’s control panel that made the elevator stop.

“I’m okay. I’m okay. Are you okay?” Peter kept a tight hold on Ash’s hand. He missed the times when Ash used to live at home with Peter and everyone else. But then Papa Dino had decided that Ash would live with him and took him away. After that, Ash didn’t come home very much. Only once in a while and every time he did, Peter never had any time to speak with Ash or even sit with him because Papa Dino kept Ash close to him, always in arm’s reach. Suddenly worried, Peter asked, “Is Papa Dino mad at you? Is that why you’re here? I thought you didn’t do work anymore.”

“Don’t worry about Papa Dino. Everything’s alright. In fact, I’m going to take this job from you. You don’t have to see Kippard tonight.”

Peter froze. That... wasn’t right. He had to do his job. “But Papa Dino said...”

“Well, Ash says you don’t have to go. I’m going to do it tonight.”

It wasn’t right. It wasn’t right. He started to shake his head. “Papa Dino will be mad. He’ll be very mad.”

“Only at me.” Ash bent down and picked up the box labeled ‘Cape Cod Catering Service’ that Peter had dropped. “I’ll make this delivery and you can just rest.”

“But I can’t!” Peter was on the verge of tears because he knew what he was supposed to do tonight, what he was supposed to do every night that he went to see Mister Kippard and Ash was changing the rules and that was scary! “Please, stop saying that stuff. Please?”

“Okay. Okay. I’m sorry.” Ash opened his arms and Peter took the invitation to have another hug. He liked Ash’s hugs, they were always warm. While he held Peter, Ash whispered, “I am so, so sorry.”

There was pain. Sharp, awful pain shooting through Peter’s head and he was only dimly aware that Ash had hit him. The whole world went black very quickly.

...

....

....

“Hey? Hey, kid. Can you hear me?” A stranger’s voice that was too loud made the pain in Peter’s head start thudding with renewed pain. He reached up his hands and covered his head, hoping that the man would stop talking. He didn’t, but he did lower his voice a bit. “I’m sorry. You look like you got hurt. Can I help you?”

Peter didn’t know how to answer. He wasn’t given choices, he never was. Things were done for him or to him, that was how life was. Slowly, he opened his eyes and found a man looking down at him. He was short and a bit round with an almost bald head and a moustache. He looked a little like Papa Dino, but.... softer.

The man smiled. “There you are. What happened?”

It was on the tip of his tongue to blurt out that Ash had hit him but he didn’t want Ash to get into trouble. “I got hit.” He opened his mouth to say something else, but then there were people in blue uniforms pushing a bed raised up on wheels through the hotel’s lobby and into the elevator.

“Just the paramedics,” the nice man with the moustache said. “Nothing for you to worry about.”

But at just that moment, two policemen hurried by and Peter heard one say to the other, “Obvious murder... shot right between the eyes. Kippard was dead before he knew what hit him.”

Mister Kippard was dead? Peter just knew he was going to get in trouble for that!

“I’m Captain Jenkins, of the NYPD. Can you tell me your name?”

“Peter. I’m Peter.” He kept staring at the elevator door when it closed behind the policemen. “I didn’t kill him!”

Captain Jenkins looked surprised. “I didn’t say you did. Look, just calm down a little.” He gave Peter a close look. “I don’t think you had anything to do with this, did you? Alright, Peter. I think I’ll have the paramedics have a look at your head, that’s a big bump you’ve got. Can you tell me how old you are?”

The question meant nothing to Peter. He didn’t know how to answer so he kept silent.

“That’s alright. Nothing to worry about.” Captain Jenkins stayed while some of the men in blue uniforms, the paramedics, looked at Peter and looked in his eyes and poked at the bump on his head until one of them told Captain Jenkins, 

“He should be looked at by a doctor. We’ll take him to the hospital right away.” And that started a whole mess that Peter didn’t know how to get out of. He was put in an ambulance and one of the paramedics sat with him until they reached the hospital. Peter had never been in a hospital. Papa Dino always had a doctor come to home if someone was sick or hurt. There had been a terrible time when a doctor had come for Peter, but he didn’t like to think about that. He really didn’t like it.

He was looked at and asked questions that he didn’t understand. A bright light was shone in his eyes and made his head hurt more. Everything smelled weird and there were people all over the place. After a long time, a doctor told him he was going to fine and Captain Jenkins came into the room. The doctor told Captain Jenkins that Peter would be fine, but that he should return to the hospital if anything changed. He gave Captain Jenkins’ some papers and the two of them talked about a lot of stuff that Peter didn’t understand before the doctor left the room.

Captain Jenkins said, “I’m taking custody of you, Peter. I’m going to take you somewhere safe. Do you understand? I’m a police officer and I’m going to take you somewhere safe where people will take care of you.” 

He didn’t understand, but he wasn’t supposed to argue with grown-ups, so he nodded as if he did understand. To Peter, somewhere that people took care of him was home and Captain Jenkins had as good as promised to take him there and that was good because the whole night had completely gotten away from Peter. Papa Dino was sure to be unhappy that he hadn’t made his appointment, but at least Peter would be somewhere that he understood what the rules were. So he went with Captain Jenkins, but Captain Jenkins didn’t take him home.

“This is the police station,” Captain Jenkins said when Peter asked. They had gone inside and sat at a big desk. “I need to ask you a few questions about the person who hit you and about Senator Kippard. He was registered under the name of James F. Abbot. The man at the reception desk said you’re a familiar face, that you visit every month to deliver food for him. Tell me about him.”

After that Peter got confused and scared and he tried to remember what lies he was supposed to tell the police if they got him, but he couldn’t remember and then he saw a picture of Ash but he knew - he just knew! - he wasn’t supposed to tell them about Ash, so he was very careful not to say his name. Then other stuff happened. Another man came over to talk to Captain Jenkins and the two of them moved away from Peter to talk. Captain Jenkins got angry, gesturing sharply at Peter and then at some paperwork in his hands. There was more talking before a third man came to Peter and told him he was going to leave. It was time to go home.

Back home, Peter was unfortunately proven right - Papa Dino had been very, very unhappy with him for talking to the police.

End Memory-

Peter eventually found a bench to sit on. There was a sign next to the bench with words on it, but he couldn’t read and so he ignored it. Ash had always thought reading was important and there had been a night when they’d both been younger that Ash had sat next to Peter on the cot in the room everyone was kept in and whispered to him,

“You gotta learn to read, Peter. Reading’s lots of fun; you’d like it.”

But Papa Dino said school was a waste of time. Peter didn’t need to read. And so Peter had stayed home and tried not to think about all the fun he was missing because if Ash said it was fun, then he must be right because Ash was always right. Even when he’d hit Peter, Peter was sure Ash must have had a good reason. He didn’t understand it, but Ash would have had a reason.

Peter pulled his knees up to his chest. His stomach really hurt. He wanted to be sick, but he hadn’t eaten in so long that there was nothing to sick up. His hands shook and he tucked them into his armpits to keep them warm. The night was cool and the breeze only made it worse. He sniffed, again, and looked around at the terrifying world - traffic lights and roaring cars and neon signs and buildings that seemed to go forever up into the sky with so, so many lights in each one that they almost looked alive. Ash had once told him that if he ever got out of the city, he’d be able to see stars - tiny dots of light in the night sky. He wished he could see stars.

“Well, hello.”

Peter turned towards the voice and found a woman looking down at him. She was very tall and wore a fine suit with her red hair tied into a tail at the back of her head. She grinned at Peter and he was afraid.

“Hello, dearie. Won’t you talk to me?”

And Peter knew, he knew he had to be polite and do what grown-ups told him to do. That was a rule. So he smiled just like he was taught to. “Hello. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Such nice manners! Aren’t you a doll?” She put a hand on the back of the bench near Peter’s shoulder and leaned down until she was looming over him. Her perfume was too strong; it made him want to move away, but he knew he couldn’t. “You look lonely out here. Why don’t you come with me?”

Peter opened his mouth to agree (she was a grown-up, so he had to agree), but another voice spoke first and it made both Peter and the woman look over at the speaker. “What are you doing to that boy?” The speaker stood only a short distance away. The person watched the woman with narrowed eyes. “Well? Answer!”

The woman stood up straight and put her fists on her hips. “What business is it of yours? Go find your own hooker.”

The new person’s eyes narrowed even further. “I think you should back away from him. I am Fan, Vice Chairperson of Chinatown’s Local Council. Are you sure you want to take that sort of attitude with me?”

The woman’s mouth fell open and she bowed her head, repeatedly. “Forgive me, sir! I meant no disrespect! I would never... please...” then she turned and ran away and Peter was alone with the new person.

Fan watched her go until she was out of sight, nearly swallowed by the crowd, before turning a far more gentle smile on Peter. “Hello. I am going to take a guess and say that you’re Peter.”

Slowly, Peter nodded. “I’m Peter. That’s me. I’m Peter. I wanna go home. Please, let me go home.”

“Now, now, there’s no need to cry.” Fan took Peter’s hand and helped him to stand. “You just come along with me. You have a friend who’s looking for you.”

“I do? I have a friend?”

“You do. He’s been looking for you for a while. We can get you something nice to eat and a rest in a warm bed. How does that sound?”

Peter clung to Fan’s arm. “I don’t feel good.”

“We’ll send for a doctor to help you. There’s nothing to worry about. Come along, now.” 

Fan led Peter through the city and Peter was happy to follow, finally reassured that he didn’t have to worry about where to go. When Peter felt weak and tired Fan would encourage him along and held his hand the whole way until they reached a very big house. Fan took Peter into the house and, the moment they walked through the door, a boy was there, frowning at them, tapping his foot.

“Sir,” Fan said, bowing slightly to the boy. “I think I’ve found the person you’re looking for. Peter,” Fan looked at Peter. “This is Mister Lee Yut-Lung.”

Peter recognized him, he did! With his long black hair, Peter was easily able to remember the boy he’d bumped into just a short time ago when he’d been running on the streets. He was dressed in blue jeans and a red and black flannel shirt. Peter let out a happy squeal. “My friend!” And he charged forward, throwing his arms around the other boy.

The other boy visibly tensed and looked more than a little stunned to find himself in Peter’s arms, but awkwardly patted Peter on the back. “There, there. No need to get all worked up. I hope you won’t be pulling that ‘run-away’ nonsense again! I had people searching the whole city for you.”

“I’m sorry.”

The boy sniffed. “Well, see that you don’t do it, again! Now, are you still hungry?”

Peter nodded, pitifully, then shook his head. “I hurt. I’m gonna be sick, I think. Maybe. I really don’t feel good, Mister Lee Yut-Lung.”

“You may call me ‘Yut-Lung’.” Peter’s new friend came closer. He touched Peter’s face and looked closely at his eyes. He felt Peter’s wrist. Finally, he stepped back, still frowning. “Do you take drugs?”

“... Don’t know.”

“I think you do. I think you’re having withdrawal symptoms.”

Peter still didn’t understand. “Can I go home?”

“Where is home?”

“Home. Papa Dino takes care of me.”

Yut-Lung’s eyes went wide. “Oh, really?”

Peter nodded. “And everyone else lives there, but I can’t find it. Please, help. Please.”

“I think it will be best for you to try to eat and drink something and then take a nap. We’ll get everything sorted out later. You’re safe here.”

And that was just what happened. Peter was given food, chicken broth and water, easy things for his stomach. He drank something Yut-Lung said would make him feel better and, though he didn’t know what he was drinking, Peter drank it because he was a good boy. He was allowed to lay down on the sofa and given a blanket and pillow and Peter was so happy. He closed his eyes and, though he knew there would be a price for such comfort, started to fall asleep. Before he completely fell asleep, he heard Fan and Yut-Lung speaking.

“What did you give him with his food?” Fan asked.

“Medicine to ease the withdrawal. Where did you find him?”

“It was just a coincidence. I was buying more coffee for you and I just happened to see him. Given how you described him, I guessed he must be the Peter you’ve been looking for. What will you do with him, now that you have him?” Fan asked.

“He is connected to Golzine, so I suppose I will give him to Ash.”

“You don’t sound eager about it.”

“I remember being small and naive and without protection. It would have been nice if someone strong had... never mind. He’ll go back to Ash Lynx. It will be useful to have Ash owe me a favor. I’ll return him tomorrow.”

Even as he fell completely asleep, Peter was happy because he was finally going to get to see Ash, again, and Ash would definitely know how to go home.

The Avengers’ Tower-  
Phil-

It was late when Phil finally had time to sit down and think in his own apartment in The Tower. The false burglary report had been dealt with and Ash’s condo had been locked up tight, again, before they returned to The Tower. There had been other business to work on, normal S.H.I.E.L.D. business that always needed to be taken care of and most of it seemed to fall on his lap. He’d sat at his computer for hours going over emails of this and that, forms, budget reports that he still wasn’t sure why they were any of his business and more paper work that was for The Avengers such as requests to have Tony work on this project or that, which Phil routinely deleted because Tony was busy and needed time to sleep and rest. He did keep one or two that he thought Tony might find interesting. He also had an email from Nick Fury.

'Phil,  
Shehata’s still missing. I have people looking for her, but if she was a client of Club Cod, then I suspect she’ll go after Mister Lynx. Be careful. I have a team looking into her affairs and there are developments. Seems Mister Lynx was right about her other affiliation.'

Nick Fury hadn’t signed his email - he never did.

Phil sat back in his seat and rubbed his eyes. He needed to stop. His eyes were sore and burning. He was exhausted. Of course Ash had been right about Thema Shehata, he hadn’t been wrong about anyone else and, in fact, another email Phil had gotten told him that two more people on Ash’s list - a state attorney and a doctor - had been arrested. So he had faith that Ash was right about Shehata. The fact that she’d all but disappeared and Fury had to send out agents to hunt for her did not help her case at all.

After he sat in his office in silence for a few minutes, staring up at the ceiling to try and put his thoughts into order, he turned his attention to his other problem - Sitwell. He used his computer to look into S.H.I.E.L.D. records to see if there was anything suspicious about Sitwell’s recent activities, but he hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Phil frowned as he thought about to the moment in the condo, while he’d been helping Max go over the place to make sure there wasn’t any sign of an intruder, and he’d seen Sitwell standing at the door with Ash. They’d been speaking very quietly and Sitwell looked entirely pleasant and friendly, with an open smile and not a hint of anything underhanded. But Ash had been guarded and tense. That shouldn’t have been anything to worry about as Ash’s general mood was usually guarded and tense. But Sitwell shouldn’t have been there. He shouldn’t have even known where they were. Even if he had looked into the computer system at S.H.I.E.L.D. to find out what The Avengers were up to, Phil hadn’t put anything in there about Ash, just in case there was some hidden threat to him among the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. He hadn’t even told Fury that they were going to Ash’s condo. And while it was possible that Sitwell really had merely seen Ash on the street and decided to follow them inside to personally give Ash the news about how he’d convinced the News station not to report on him anymore, it was a rather immense coincidence. But... coincidences did happen.

The trouble was that Sitwell hadn’t actually done anything wrong. He hadn’t lied. Max and Jessica couldn’t afford to live in a place like the condo if Ash hadn’t helped them, but they clearly cared for him a great deal. Ash’s case was business for The Avengers, but it wasn’t only business. Sitwell hadn’t lied, but he had managed to paint the people around Ash in a very poor light.

He needed to know if Sitwell was up to something and the simplest way to find that out seemed to be what he and Fury had already decided to do because of Thema Shehata - an investigation of everyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. - so he sent an email to Nick Fury.

'Nick,  
We should start the investigation into S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to see if there are any other HYDRA soldiers that were working with Thema Shehata. I suggest starting immediately and we will certainly have to investigate everyone very thoroughly if we’re going to make a clean sweep of things. I suggest starting with top agents such as myself and Agent Sitwell.  
Phil'

He sent the email, then sat back in his chair with a satisfied smile. Sitwell would get investigated and anything questionable would be carefully scrutinized by people who made it their life’s work to root out such problems. And, with luck, nothing would be found. With luck, Ash’s suspicions were wrong and it would turn out that Sitwell had simply spoken without thought, that he’d been insensitive to Ash and his situation, but not malicious.

The Next Morning-

Phil hadn’t slept well. He didn’t like the uncertainty about Sitwell, but there was nothing to be done but wait for the investigations to prove things one way or the other. He hadn’t forgotten the problem of Gregory Dufort, either. That man definitely needed to be caught and the fact that he’d eluded capture for long long was really rather remarkable. He might have been a good agent. Again, there really wasn’t anything Phil could do about Gregory as Nick Fury already had people in the field hunting for him. So Phil sat at the kitchen table and drank his coffee as people began to drift in for breakfast. All was quiet and easy. Ash even ate without prompting and he ate well. Eggs, bacon, buttered toast, and milk - it was the first time Phil had seen Ash eat so much. He ate in silence and concentrated on the food rather than to talk anyone, he didn’t even so much as look around the table. It was odd enough that Jessica and Max stared and Eiji asked if Ash was alright.

“Fine.” Ash had answered Eiji. “I’m fine. Gotta eat, right? I’m just hungry.”

Natasha carefully cut a slice of ham into bite-size portions on her plate. “You eat as though you are gathering fuel for a mission.” She said it very calmly and didn’t acknowledge all the puzzled looks Ash’s friends gave him. “Are you planning a mission?”

Ash snorted. “Now, what kind of mission would I have in this place? Geeze, first people nag me for not eating, now I get nagged if I do eat. Gimme a break, will ya?” He put another fork full of eggs into his mouth. “A guy’s got a right to be hungry.”

“Of course.” Natasha eyed him carefully. “I merely mentioned it because I eat as much as I can before a mission so I will have enough energy to complete the mission, whether I actually want to eat or not.”

Ash didn’t reply. Instead, he looked at Phil. “I want to see Griffin’s grave.”

Max dropped his fork and it clattered loudly against his plate. “Ash... you sure?”

“Yeah. It’s something I have to do.”

Max nodded and his face was such an awful mask of pain and barely restrained grief that Phil was completely unsurprised when Jessica leaned over and put her arm over his shoulders in comfort. “Tell me when you want to go, kid and I’ll - ”

“Actually,” Ash turned his attention back to his food. “I want to go alone. No offense, but... I just want to go alone.”

Phil could appreciate the delicate matter. “You’ll need to have someone with you, I’m afraid, but we can arrange a visit. Steve and Natasha are on duty today and they’re very discrete. You won’t even know they’re around.”

Ash nodded, absently, and cleaned off his plate. “That’s good. That’s fine.”

The subject was dropped after that, in favor of other matters. For example, Eiji tugged on Max’s sleeve. “Will you look at my wound today? I think it’s better, now. Can’t I exercise a little? Ash, too?”

Max and Bruce took Eiji and Ash aside and the wounds were carefully examined before Max called the doctor who’d treated Ash when he’d first gotten stabbed. Moments later, it was announced that all three of them agreed that Ash and Eiji could do some mild exercises.

“Does anyone else have plans for the day?” Phil asked.

“I promised someone a few self-defense lessons,” Steve said with a smile at Michael, who grinned back. So unlike the timid boy who’d arrived only a few days ago, Michael smiled easily and often and no one had missed what a great change had come over him. Phil put it down to the fact that his Avengers’ were just wonderful people that Michael couldn’t help but be at ease around them.

“And I need to work on my D.N.A. experiments,” Bruce told everyone. “I’m almost finished.”

Max said, “And speaking of D.N.A., I spoke to Charlie earlier and he said he’s going to come by today to collect some of yours, kid. He needs to get it tested to see if Golzine really made clones of you. He said he’ll be by soon, so you hold off on visiting Griffin until then, alright?’ Then he took a deep breath and looked around the table before he focused on Ash, again. “And we have a court date. One week from today.”

“One week?” Ash let his hands fall to his lap. “I’ll be there.”

Jessica leaned forward and put her elbows on the table. “We’re going to be there. You’re not going alone.”

Ash stretched his neck and laughed, though it didn’t sound entirely genuine. “You don’t have to make me feel better. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I’m not scared, I just want to get it over with. Maybe George can come back over and finish recording my testimony. There isn’t much left to do.”

Jessica tried to talk him out of it and told him that Mister Scott already had enough evidence, Ash didn’t have to put himself through all that a second time, but Ash was adamant. He wanted EVERYTHING recorded. And so they would wait for Detective Dickinson before Ash would go out to visit his brother’s grave. It wasn’t a happy beginning of the day, but the way Phil saw it, with a court date finally set, everything was finally starting, which meant it would be over all the sooner and then, maybe, Ash could start living, again.

Natasha finished eating and stood before she fixed a hard look on Ash. “As you have been pronounced to be healing well and now must wait for someone to arrive, I would like you to shoot with me.”

Clint choked on his cereal and, after coughing a few times, said, “Since when do you go shooting with anyone outside the team?”

“Since I want to see how good he is.” She looked back at Ash. “I have heard you are a reasonably proficient marksman.”

Reasonably proficient turned out to be an understatement.

“I told you he could shoot,” Max said when he and Phil stood behind a safety wall of thick transparent plastic to watch the shooting. The Avengers’ Tower had a very good firing range, necessary because Phil, Natasha, and Clint all needed good marksmanship during battles so they practiced frequently. Steve didn’t much care for guns. He could shoot, but he didn’t like it anymore than Bruce did. The firing range was a very large room with one area for the shooters to stand at while, at the other end of the room, targets were set up. Both Natasha and Ash used their guns of choice and, to Phil’s amazement, Ash almost matched Natasha shot-for-shot. He wasn’t as good as she was - few people were - but his skill was undeniable.

They shot for only ten minutes before Natasha put her gun away and faced Ash. “Who taught you to shoot?”

“Does it matter?” Ash tucked his gun into the back of his pants and Phil, not for the first time, winced at seeing that. It was unprofessional, at best, and dangerous, at worst.

“It matters because when we examined the bodies of the people who shot at you in Chinatown, you said you knew someone who used the phrase ‘sloppy and unprofessional’ and those exact words were highly stressed in the...” she hesitated. “In the training program I was put through in my youth. Also, your marksmanship is not simply good, it is excellent for one of your age and health condition. I believe you were trained by someone from that same training program. If you have, they are dangerous. I know this because only the most dangerous students in that program survived. I would like to know who trained you.”

Ash looked her square in the eye. “I’m self-taught.” And he turned and walked away. 

Before Ash could even leave the room, J.A.R.V.I.S.’ voice filled the large room. “Excuse me for the interruption, but Detective Charlie Dickinson has arrived and has requested to speak with Ash. He seems a bit harried.”

When the four of them arrived at the common room Charlie was already there, standing with the rest of the team along with Jessica while Ibe-san and Michael were nowhere to be seen and that, Phil had learned to recognize, was a bad sign. Max, Jessica, or Ibe-san always took Michael out of the room if something ugly was going to be discussed. Charlie looked just as harried as J.A.R.V.I.S. had said. In fact, he looked awful, downright worn out. Charlie already had his briefcase open and on the table in the kitchen.

“Ash!” Charlie waved him over to the table. “Look, we really need some help. I know everything’s stressful right now, but we have an issue that I hope you’ll be able to help us with.” He sat down next to Ash and hesitated. Then he said, “The kids from Club Cod. You knew them, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” Ash crossed his arms over his chest. “And?”

“Someone’s missing.”

“Missing?” Steve asked. “How can someone be missing? They found all the bodies, didn’t they?”

“Twenty-seven children were found.” Charlie took a paper out of his briefcase and put it on the table in front of Ash. It was a list of names. “We found this roster in an office at Club Cod. It’s the most current one, dated just last week. There are twenty-eight names. Ash, can you tell us who’s missing? Or maybe you were gone too long and the kids are different than the ones you knew?”

Ash’s face went still when he looked at the list - not angry or sad, just empty. “I was in Club Cod thirty-three days ago. Dino took me there when he got me back. Said he wanted me to remember how good I had it living in his mansion, eating his food ‘n getting nice clothes ‘n stuff.” Then his eyes narrowed and looked back up at Charlie. “I need to go to the morgue to see who you found. I know all these guys so I can match names to faces and figure out who’s missing.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to do that, Ash.” Charlie pulled out a stack of photographs from his briefcase. “We took pictures for you to look at. If you don’t feel up to it, don’t force yourself. We’ll find out who’s missing some other way. You don’t need to put yourself through this.”

Ash rolled his eyes at Charlie. “Right.” He took the photos from Charlie and started to look through them.

Twenty-seven photographs of dead children. It was awful and Ash went through the photographs very quickly, as if he couldn’t bear to look too long. When he was finished, he handed the stack of photo’s back to Charlie and cursed. “It’s Peter. Peter’s not there. He might have been out working the night before the cops got there. He might still be alive. The roster’s a week old - they might have sold him to someone. They might have killed him before the raid. But he might be alive.” Ash stood up and headed for the door. “I gotta find him.”

Max caught Ash by the arm before he got far. “Not so fast. Let’s think a minute, first.”

“You don’t get it!” Ash protested. “Peter’s... slow. He’s my age, but he’s about as mature as Michael. He can’t take care of himself. If he’s alive out there, he’s probably scared to death. He’d try to get back to Club Cod, but if he did find it and he saw the place was locked up and he couldn’t get inside, he’d have gotten scared and run off. He’s been there years; he was a toddler when they brought him in, he was there years longer than I was! He doesn’t know anything about the real world! He doesn’t know how to find food or where to go if it starts to rain or he gets cold at night. He’ll probably stand in the middle of the sidewalk crying if someone yells at him.”

“I’ll go look for him,” Max promised. “I’ll help the cops and we’ll look everywhere. Just tell us what he looks like and where he might have gone.”

With determination set on his face, Ash said, “I can do better.” He took out the cellphone Jessica had given him earlier and began to type into it and only stopped when a giant, holographic screen appeared in front of him.

“May I assist?” J.A.R.V.I.S. asked. “You seem to be doing an internet search. Say what you want to do and I can comply.”

Ash told J.A.R.V.I.S. where to go on the internet until they reached a screen that asked for a password. Ash told J.A.R.V.I.S. what to input and then they were in a database filled with photographs of children with strained, unconvincing smiles. Beside each photograph was a name, age, and physical characteristics. 

“If a client didn’t want to go to Club Cod, Dino would let them look at this and pick out whoever they wanted and then send them over to wherever the client was.” Ash pointed to one boy, as blonde and fair as himself. “That’s Peter. I have to find him. He might not go to you. He gets real scared at the least little thing and he won’t know you, so he might hide or run.” Ash reached up and made fists at the top of his head, as if he were trying to pull his own hair in frustration, but had forgotten he’d cut his hair too short for that sort of thing. “Or he might go right to you. He’s trained to always obey adults. Some creep out there could hurt him and he won’t even try to fight.” He cussed, again. “I don’t know what he’ll do!” 

To Be Continued...


	33. Not Again

Chapter 33: Not Again

The Avengers’ Tower-  
Natasha-

“I need a photograph of Peter,” Detective Dickinson said, grimly. “I’ll have copies of it spread around the force and we’ll get everyone looking for him.” He gave Ash a serious look. “I promise we’ll do everything possible. Captain Jenkins has some people who owe him favors and I’m sure he can call in extra help.”

Tony had J.A.R.V.I.S. email a copy of Peter’s picture to Detective Dickinson and said, “Let us know if you need anything else we can help with.” Tony looked at Peter’s image, still hanging in midair with a look on his face that Natasha couldn’t quite understand. He seemed to be somewhere between sad and angry and the complexity of his emotion puzzled her. She, too, looked at Peter’s picture. In some ways, he resembled Ash - fair hair and skin and delicate features. Peter looked like he might be a bit younger than Ash, but not by much. His hair was nicely combed, parted at the side, and he smiled brightly at the camera. She didn’t believe the smile. There was something soft about Peter, for all that he was as skinny as Ash. He lacked the hardness in Ash’s eyes, the invisible thorns that covered Ash, to force others to keep their distance. Peter didn’t have the protective wall around him as Ash did.

Detective Dickinson shook Tony’s hand and Phil’s and Natasha subtly stepped behind Clint before she was asked to engage in the social nicety and Clint - she was sure he knew what she was up to - stood his ground and let her hide. 

“Yes,” Phil said. “Anything else you need, please ask.” Then he looked around at his team. “I think some of us may go for a little search ourselves. If we find him, we’ll be sure to let you know.”

“Thank you, but if you don’t find him...” Detective Dickinson looked at Ash and winced. “I’m sorry, Ash. I don’t mean to sound so pessimistic, but with what we know about the people who want you out of the picture and with what you told us about Peter...”

Ash nodded his head, a sharp little jerk. “Yeah. I get it. Anyone sees Peter and recognizes him from Club Cod and they’ll think he’s the witness and go after him. He won’t be able to defend himself. I get it.”

The minute Detective Dickinson left, Max quietly said to Jessica, “I’ll let Shunichi know what’s going on. I presume you’ll want to help look for Peter?”

“Of course,” Jessica said, decisively. 

But Ash shook his head. “No. You can’t go. Peter’s afraid of women and if he sees you before you see him, he might run and hide. If you’re lucky, you’ll get close enough that he won’t feel safe running so he’ll do what you tell him to do, but I don’t want to take that chance. It’s bad enough she’ll be coming.” He jerked his thumb towards Natasha.

Phil said, “I would have thought that he might be more frightened of men, considering... well... what you said in your testimony.”

Ash scowled. “There are all kinds of perverts. There was this one woman who liked Peter - like how Dino liked me. She always wanted Peter when she went to Club Cod. She used to hurt him a lot. Did some real bad stuff to him. So he’s scared of women, now. Bring Ibe-san, instead. He’s like Eiji - a giant teddy bear. Peter will love him. Women, though... they really scare him.”

Natasha could sympathize. While Natasha didn’t fear, she did have a sensible caution of strong women. Tony’s personal assistant, Miss Potts, reminded Natasha a great deal of some of her trainers in the Red Room. She didn’t dislike Miss Potts and she could see clearly enough that Tony trusted her with his life, but there was just something about her confidant stride and the sharp ‘click, click’ of her high-heeled shoes on the floor that brought back certain memories. Miss Potts was a woman with power, perhaps not exactly ‘super’ power, but she commanded all of Tony’s business, knew how to get the press to report what she wanted them to, could deal with the government, and all with a smile on her face to show how easy she thought it was. She made Natasha nervous. So, yes, she could understand Peter’s fear of women. That didn’t mean she intended to sit out the mission. Because while the most likely scenario was that Peter was already dead or, at the very least, had been taken out of the city, she didn’t want to sit by and do nothing.

‘He’s defenseless. He needs help.’ She’d once been small and helpless and there had been no one to help. ‘He is probably dead, but he may be alive. Maybe. It is a possibility.’ 

She stepped out from her hiding place behind Clint and said, “Where would he have gone? Was there somewhere he might have thought of as safe?”

Ash straightened his back and all the emotion that had been hanging over him like a weight vanished. He was suddenly cold and focused. “J.A.R.V.I.S., you set me up a map of the city, yeh?”

“Of course.” And, as expected, there was immediately a holographic map of the city suspended in the air in front of Ash. 

“Bigger,” Ash said. “Everyone needs to see it.” The map hologram expanded until it was nearly six square feet. “We gotta divide up the city. He could be anywhere. If he’s still alive.” Ash’s eyes narrowed a little more. “If he’s still in the city. Dino might have sold him since I last saw Peter. He’d do that, sometimes, instead of just renting them out. Peter was getting too old for Dino’s taste, but he was popular with the customers ‘cause he acted like a kid and it was easy to make him cry. I don’t think Dino would have sold him for a couple of more years. But he’d be easy to kidnap ‘cause he’d just go with anyone. He’s got no sense of self-preservation.” All the while that he spoke, Ash studied the map in front of him. “He doesn’t know anywhere in the city ‘cause he wasn’t ever let out of Club Cod unless he was being taken to a client. And, to him, Club Cod was safe.” That only soured his expression all the more. “He understands how things work there, he knows what he’s supposed to do and when he’s supposed to do it and how he’s supposed to do it.” He looked around the room, sharply. “That doesn’t mean he LIKED it there! But... he thought it was safe. He didn’t know any better. It was just normal for him.”

Max spoke up, reassuringly. “Don’t get yourself worked up. No one’s saying anything bad about your friend.”

“That’s right,” Steve, all business, agreed with Max. “We just want to help and the best way would be if we could narrow down where to look. If there’s nowhere he’s more likely to go, then maybe there’s somewhere he would avoid.” Steve was a very good leader, Natasha thought. In any battle situation, he was calm and ready for whatever the enemy might throw at them and this was no different. He was instantly ready to get on with what had to be done, though Natasha suspected that he was deeply unhappy with the situation. Steve was usually unhappy when innocent people were hurt and the whole mission had been a bit rough on him, as it had been on all of them, after finding out what the kids at Club Cod had gone through, but he had put that aside and focused on what needed to be done, such as questioning the person who knew Peter best - Ash. “You said he was often sent away to hotels to work. Were there contingency plans in case something went wrong? Perhaps a meeting place where he was supposed to go if he couldn’t get back to Club Cod?”

Ash shook his head. “I told you - Peter was always driven to and from his appointments. Dino knew Peter couldn’t have gotten from Club Cod to wherever the client was; he’d have gotten lost.” He pointed at the ocean. “He wouldn’t go near the water. Someone once told him that if he went in the water, the sharks would eat him, so he’s been scared of water ever since. It was hard as anything to get him to get in the shower for the longest time after that. But just about anywhere else is a possibility. And he probably wouldn’t be in plain sight, he’d might be hiding or creeping around in alleys.” Ash held out hand to Max. “Gimme your phone. I gotta contact some people.”

“Like who?” But Max passed his phone over without hesitation.

“Like my guys and Cain. If Peter wanders into Harlem, Cain will be sure to find him. He’ll stick out like a sore thumb and Cain’s a good guy, he’ll take care of Peter until I can go get him.” He dialed and then said, “Yeah, look, I need a favor, man.” And he drifted away from the group to talk to whoever Cain was.

“We’ll divide into teams,” Steve said as he took Ash’s place in front of the map. “If Jessica and Eiji stay here to look after Michael, then we’ll have nine people. Teams of two will be good just in case anyone runs into HYDRA soldiers. Ash will be with Natasha and myself.”

“And,” Tony said, sharply. “Everyone wears their communicators and get in touch with J.A.R.V.I.S. if there’s any kind of problem.” He looked at Max. “I’ll get ones for you and Ibe-san. J.A.R.V.I.S. can coordinate a rescue if something goes really haywire. Right?”

J.A.R.V.I.S. replied, “Yes, sir. It will be my pleasure.”

“Right,” Steve agreed. “Then we’ll divide up the city this way.” He traced his index finger around the map this way and that until he had it nicely carved up into sections and, wherever he touched, J.A.R.V.I.S. drew a red line over that area and, when Steve and J.A.R.V.I.S. were finished, the map looked like a child had been drawing on it. Steve gave out orders about who was going where.

“What about me?” Eiji asked Ash the minute Ash had finished with his phone call and gave the phone back to Max. “What do you need me to do?”

“Stay here. Be safe.” Ash looked at Eiji very seriously. “Help Jessica keep Michael distracted ‘cause he’ll know something’s going on when everyone’s gone and he’ll get scared. The guys are looking for Peter, too, and they all know your phone number, so if anyone contacts you on your phone, let me know?”

Tony said, “J.A.R.V.I.S. can let us all know if Eiji tells him.”

“Right.” Eiji put a hand on Ash’s arm. “I won’t let you down.”

It was a monstrous task before them and there wasn’t much hope, but they would work until every square inch of the city had been searched. Natasha knew her team and knew they would not give up until all hope had been exhausted. To get ready for the mission, Natasha went to her apartment for some more weapons. Clint followed her, which was not entirely unexpected, and he listened when she spoke up, the moment they walked out of the common room.

“Ash is involved with The Red Room.” She said it simply, a matter-of-fact. “I don’t know who it is, but he has been in frequent contact with an agent from The Red Room.”

Clint, walking at her side, said, “What makes you so sure? That comment he made about, ‘sloppy and unprofessional’?”

“And the crushed heart. His stance when he shot... it reminds me of someone, but I can’t quite place it.” She didn’t slow her pace when she walked, but went straight to her apartment. Clint followed her in without invitation, just as she’d expected him to. “I need to know who it is. They are dangerous and he is... injured.” She didn’t know how else to phrase it. “By his own testimony, he was without friends or support for years and then someone comes to teach him about ‘sloppy and unprofessional’? If I knew who it was maybe I could do something, but he won’t tell me the name.” She walked around the living room of her apartment once. “He can’t understand how dangerous people from The Red Room are!”

“Like you?”

She stopped and turned to face Clint. “Yes.”

He sighed and sat heavily on Natasha’s couch. The couch, like everything in Natasha’s apartment was gray. It was an easy choice when she’d needed to pick out furnishings. Every now and then, Clint would slip in something with color, like a little orange pillow he’d left on the couch a few days previously. She had noticed him doing it, but hadn’t mentioned it as it seemed to make him happy and she liked it when he was happy. “Look, Nat, I get that you’re worried about, but you’re not thinking this through.”

“What am I neglecting?”

He smiled at her, that gentle smile of his. “YOU’RE from The Red Room and I’d trust you with a kid any day.”

“You have worse judgment than I’d thought.”

“My judgment is just fine. I would trust you. You’d be great with kids. The fact is that you’re from The Red Room and you escaped them. Phil and I might have helped, but you got away from them and now you’re a trusted friend and a hero to millions of people. Maybe whoever Ash won’t name escaped The Red Room, too. Maybe they learned a better way, just like you did.”

Natasha had to consider that because Clint was one of the most intelligent people she knew and she respected him immensely. His theory was possible. Not likely, but possible.

“Besides,” he continued. “If whoever Ash has been hanging around was really a bad person, I don’t think Ash would be so jumpy to protect them. He’s a good guy, so I don’t believe he’d like someone who was bad. In fact, I’m reasonably sure that if this mysterious person was bad, then Ash would’ve put their name on that list of his to get them put away with the rest of the creeps he’s pointing his finger at.”

That seemed plausible. Ash made no secret of his dislike for the people he’d put on his list and she believed he had a strong sense of justice.

Steve had mentioned to her, “Ash said I should talk to a therapist.”

“About what?”

“Well, I suppose it’s my own fault. You see, I let slip to Ash that when I first became,” he gestured vaguely down at himself. “Captain America, that there was this woman. She was working for someone I needed to speak with, I think she was his secretary. Well, she saw me and ah... well... she wasn’t acting much like a lady, I can tell you that.”

“She harassed you?”

“Yes, but... she was a woman. I’m a man. So... there’s nothing to be upset about, right?”

Natasha had raised an eyebrow. “You may be asking the wrong person about socially acceptable behavior. However, I think that if you are not bothered, then you are fine. You should also understand that you do not have to allow anyone to touch you. Tell them ‘no’ and if they don’t stop, then you make them stop. If you are uncomfortable reprimanding a woman,” Natasha had leaned forward and narrowed her eyes. “I will do it for you.” Because Steve was good and kind and he shouldn’t have to put up with that sort of thing.

But that whole exchange had solidified Natasha’s good opinion of Ash because anyone who worried for her team mates and tried to protect them couldn’t be anything but good. And as Ash was good, and had demonstrated a strong dislike for people he judged to be ‘bad’, then Natasha could reason that if the person from The Red Room that he knew was bad, then Ash would have put them on his list.

“I think you’re right,” she told Clint, after a time. Clint was usually right and he understood people a great deal more than Natasha did. “I also believe Ash is planning a mission he isn't telling us about." "Why do you think... oh." Clint grinned as he apparently realized what Natasha had seen, earlier. "He was eating. That's why you mentioned it." She nodded. "Before every mission we were trained in The Red Room to eat whether we were hungry or not because we never knew when the next meal may be found and we need fuel to complete the mission. Ash seemed as if he were stocking up on fuel. Still, I suppose that will have to be dealt with at a later time. Peter needs us.”

The Lee Mansion-  
Peter-

He was warm when he woke up and that was nice. Everything felt soft and he could heard a funny noise, like singing but without words. 

Peter opened his eyes and, for a moment, was suddenly terrified because he wasn’t at home. The room was all full of color, not white. The dormitory he and all the others lived in was white. White floors and walls and ceilings. White bed sheets and white clothes on all the kids. Everything was white. But the room he woke in was not white. The walls were wooden paneling, there were ornate paintings on the walls, a rug so fancy that it had every color Peter could imagine on it, and there was so much else! Chairs and a little table in front of the sofa Peter was laying on and painted vases with colors... everything was colorful! Of course he’d seen rooms with color before, like the hotel rooms he’d been sent to or the private rooms at home where, sometimes, he was sent to entertain one of Papa Dino’s friends. Those rooms had colors, but nothing Peter had ever seen had ever lived up to the room he’d woken up in. It was not home, but it was the most beautiful room Peter had ever seen.

It took him a moment to remember where he was. Sometimes, he didn’t remember things so good. He sat up and looked all around, endlessly fascinated by all the beautiful little things he could see in the room. Slowly, it came to him that he’d been taken to Yut-Lung’s home. He’d let Peter eat and sleep on the sofa. It was a very nice sofa and lots bigger than his cot at home. And he liked the hot soup Fan had given him. And, best of all, Yut-Lung had given him something to make him feel better and he’d slept so good.

Peter swung his feet off the sofa and looked around, again - there was so much to look at! - until he heard the funny, pretty noise, again, and realized that the noise was coming from beyond an open door in the room. Peter started for the door, but paused when he happened to look over at one of the walls and saw a gigantic painting of the biggest bird he’d ever seen. It was all colors of blues and green and had a huge, huge, huge tail. It was very pretty but he didn’t have a name for it. He knew what pigeons and crows were and he’d once seen a falcon. There had even been one memorable time, when he’d been going to an appointment late at night, that he’d seen a bat, but Ash had explained that a bat wasn’t really a bird.

“It’s a flying mammal, silly,” Ash had said. He’d sat with Peter the next morning and rubbed Peter’s sore back. He always did nice things like that for all the kids when they came back from appointments hurting. “Bats are like mice, but they’ve got wings made out of skin instead of feathers and they live in big groups. They’re not birds, but they’re cool.” He’d paused for a moment. “I used to watch the bats catching bugs back in Cape Cod. They’d come out right at dusk, just as the sun was setting.”

It had made Ash sad to think of bats, so Peter hadn’t asked any more questions about them.

Standing up, Peter stared at the painting of the very big, very colorful bird and smiled. Perhaps, he’d thought, the bird was outside. Just in case it wasn’t allowed, he crept slowly to the open door. He really, really wanted to see what was singing.

Outside the door were flowers, lots and lots of flowers. It was even more beautiful than the room he’d woke up in. Peter couldn’t help himself. He walked out of the room. There were flowers and plants and everything looked alive. The sun was up and the sky was bright blue. Peter raised up his face and smiled at the warmth on his face. That was one little thing he liked about not being at home - the sun. He never saw the sun at home because there were no windows in the dormitory and the only time he was ever allowed out was at night time. So he enjoyed the sun.

It was a bird that was singing, but not the big one he’d seen in the painting. The bird was very small and gray, but it sang so prettily. It sat on the branch of a little tree while it sang. Peter liked birds. They could fly.

“It’s called a Mockingbird.”

Caught, Peter spun around. “I’m sorry! I just wanted to listen!”

“You’re welcome in my garden.” It was Yut-Lung. He carried a basket full of flowers and plants. “How are you feeling?”

Peter blinked. He thought and considered. “I feel... good?”

“Excellent. I’ve made you more medicine for when you leave here, so be sure to take it or you’ll feel ill, again. Withdrawal can be harsh, but we will manage it.” Then he paused. “YOU will manage it. I’m going to give you away, shortly.”

“You don’t want me to stay?” Peter looked around at the beautiful garden. He wanted to stay. But he smiled and nodded. “Yes. Okay. Where am I going?”

“To Ash Lynx. He may know you.”

“Ash?! Ash?! I get to see Ash?” Peter clapped his hands and spun in a circle. “Ash will know how to go home! Thank you, thank you!” And he hugged his friend, again.

Elsewhere-  
Blanca -

Blanca had been following Ash, at a distance, waiting for Gregory to show himself, which he was certain would happen sooner or later. For some reason, Ash and a couple of his guards were making their way steadily through the city.

Blanca kept to rooftops, as much as possible as it gave him a good vantage point to watch Ash’s progression through the city. Every now and then, he would have to move from building to building, but it was really no trouble.  
He watched Ash, but, at the same time, kept looking around at surrounding buildings and the people on the sidewalks, always looking for Gregory. He did not, however, ignore the fact that Natasha was one of The Avengers with Ash. He tried not to let that affect him, but as time wore on, he found himself thinking of happier times... her hand in his.

Thema Shehata-

She sat behind a dumpster, in one of the many alleys in New York. It was wet and stank of filth that she couldn’t put a name to and she wondered how things had come to this. S.H.I.E.L.D. had found out about her. She didn’t know how; Sitwell had said he’d fixed all that, that he’d hidden the accusation against her. He’d either lied or something had gone very wrong, but the point was that S.H.I.E.L.D. knew. She’d gone to her apartment and only just avoided getting caught when she happened to see S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in through one of the windows. They were searching her apartment. Of course she’d slipped away, got back into her rented car and drove off. She found a secluded place to park and used her cellphone to check the security camera at her home in Egypt and saw uniformed S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers searching there, too.

Her vision darkened for a moment before she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She then checked the security camera in her office and saw more S.H.I.E.L.D. agents there, too. They knew. Nick Fury knew and that terrified her because he didn’t always play by the rules and he wasn’t nice. They knew and nowhere was safe and she was left hiding in a filthy alley because her car was out of gas and she was running out of options. HYDRA would protect her, give her a new identity and a new life somewhere else where she could be useful and far away from Fury’s eyes. It would never be as high profile a job as working on the World Security Council, but it would be safe. But if she couldn’t deliver the Banana Fish...

She needed to get in contact with Gregory. Since the last time they’d spoken, he hadn’t contacted her and he hadn’t given her any way to contact him. She contacted HYDRA and spoke with a superior and, after a few evasive lies about her progress, she got the phone number of Gregory’s cellphone and dialed it the minute her superior hung up on her.

Three times the phone rang before it was answered with, “Who is this?”

She rolled her eyes at Gregory’s poor manners. “I have what you want. Meet me outside Nina’s Doggy Daycare.” That was the name of the business right next to the alley she was currently in.

Gregory didn’t respond for a moment, but then, “What?”

“You heard me.” She told him the address. “You wanted the rings, so show up. And bring the stuff with you.” Then she hung up and settled in to wait. Her gun was heavy at her side.

For nearly a half-an-hour, she waited in her hiding spot, concealed by the dumpster, and kept a sharp look out for Gregory. As she waited she felt her patience and her nerves wear thin. She was acutely aware of how desperately she needed the Banana Fish and her hands were trembling with the anticipation of finally getting it. So long as she could deliver it to her superiors, she could recover from the minor slip-ups she’d made and she could see the back of that smug Sitwell and his better-than-thou sneer. Everything would definitely work out.

She waited and waited. She could feel the seconds tick by and watched each person who walked passed the end of the alley, every car that drove by, waiting and waiting for Gregory. And then she saw him.

The boy, Ash Lynx. She remembered him from Club Cod, but had never had much to do with him. He was pretty enough, but his attitude... she didn’t know why Golzine kept him around. Every time she’d gone to Club Cod or Golzine’s mansion and had seen him, the boy had been completely out of control. He was always being punished for trying to run away or some other form of distasteful rebellion.

“Minor discipline problem,” Golzine had chuckled one time when she’d seen Ash Lynx limping, sour faced, out of a room in Golzine’s mansion. 

It was almost as if he enjoyed the boy’s defiant temperament. She didn’t see the appeal. In fact, she’d been downright baffled when Golzine had mentioned that Ash Lynx was his most expensive merchandise and was highly in demand by clients. She just didn’t see it. In fact, even as she stood there and watched him walk down the sidewalk, she saw him with a sulky, unhappy look on his face and still didn’t know why anyone would pay for him. A pretty face didn’t outweigh a nice disposition. 

Ash wasn’t alone. He walked with Captain America and The Black Widow, but that was no surprise as she knew they were protecting the Club Cod witness so, really, Ash must have been the witness. It would make her life so much easier if Ash were dead, without a witness to speak against her, her name could be hidden, again, and without proof there was nothing civilian law enforcement or Nick Fury could do... she paused. Nick Fury MIGHT do something even without evidence. He wasn’t the most straight-laced of men. However, as much as she would have liked to put a bullet in Ash Lynx’s head, she needed to wait for Gregory to arrive and the chaos of a sudden gunshot might scare him off. Besides, Ash Lynx didn’t have any real knowledge of her doing anything illegal because she’s certainly never rented him.

The traffic was busy that day, as it always was in New York City. A few moments after Ash Lynx had walked by the alley where Shehata was hiding, traffic stopped. There was a large black car that stopped almost right in front of where Shehata waited and the door swung open. Out from that car tumbled a blonde boy, with a bright smile. “Ash!” 

Shehata felt her heart stop. His blonde hair almost shone in the sunlight. His face, so fine and delicate, and his sweet smile... he was truly an unearthly beauty. 

Peter. 

Sweet Peter. Every time she had visited Club Cod, Peter had been her choice. She remembered how he would cry. Tears running down his cheeks, the pitiful sounds of his sobbing filled the air of the room at Club Cod she was given to use. The boy had begged and whined and she had thrilled at the knowledge that, for the hour she’d paid for, he was hers. And how obedient he’d been, always so eager to please.

‘He knows. He can speak against me. He’s the only one who can really speak against me.’

And, just like that, all thoughts of Gregory, Banana Fish, and the Avengers only a short distance away, faded into nothing.

Peter ran from the car, even as some unfamiliar person with long black hair, leaned out of the car Peter had jumped from and shouted, “Wait a minute!” Peter obviously hadn’t heard and ran off in the direction Ash Lynx had been walking in.

Shehata went to the entrance of the alley and peeked around the corner. Ash had turned around and started moving towards Peter. She saw her life, everything she wanted and had worked for, being turned to ruin. Shehata raised her gun and fired.

Yut-Lung-

He had gotten Peter nicely cleaned up, hair brushed and face washed, before he straightened the tie Peter had been wearing when he’d been brought to Yut-Lung and deemed that they were ready to go. Fan would drive and Yut-Lung would sit in the back of the car with Peter as they drove to The Avengers’ Tower. He’d had it all planned out. He would act as if he were doing Ash a great favor of returning Peter and then ask nothing in return. After all, Ash had nothing that Yut-Lung needed, but if he were going to restore order to Chinatown, as Sing wanted, then it would help to be on peaceful terms with Ash’s gang and Yut-Lung believed that returning Peter to Ash would be a good way to get those peaceful terms. He would leave and Peter would be with Ash who was sure to get Peter somewhere safe and Yut-Lung would go back to the mansion. It would all work out perfectly well.

“You’re really quiet. Are you mad?” Peter asked, leaning over where he sat to look at Yut-Lung’s face “Are you sad?”

Yut-Lung pushed him back into his seat and let out a loud, long sigh. “Can’t you sit still, you silly thing? Don’t take off your seat belt; that’s dangerous.”

They drove on for a bit longer, but, at one point Fan had to stop the car at a traffic light. Peter had looked out the window before he let out a gasp and cried out, “Ash!” Then, before Yut-Lung realized what Peter was doing, Peter unfastened his seat belt, flung open the car’s door, and almost dove out of the car. “Ash!”

“Wait a minute!” Yut-Lung grabbed for Peter, but he wasn’t fast enough and Peter started running down the sidewalk. Yut-Lung unfastened his seat belt and said to Fan, “Wait here. I’ll be right back.” If Ash was in the area, then it would surely save Yut-Lung the trouble of going all the way to The Avengers’ Tower, but he felt a vague stab of disappointment that Peter would be leaving so soon. That was foolish. He shouldn’t feel disappointed at all because Peter was clearly in need of constant care. He would certainly be troublesome. Yut-Lung should be pleased to see him go... but, he wasn’t and he was quite disgusted with himself for acting so ridiculously.

He hadn’t even put a single foot out of the car when the sound of a gunshot cracked through the air. Fan jerked the car into park and whirled around in the driver’s seat. Fan grabbed Yut-Lung by the arm and yanked him back into the car. “Stay in the car!” Fan barked. “Down! Get down!”

Yut-Lung could see a woman in the alley just a few yards from where his car was with a gun in her hand, aiming down the sidewalk where Peter had gone.

Steve-

They had been searching for Peter for the better part of an hour with no luck at all. On occasion, Steve would contact J.A.R.V.I.S., who would contact the rest of the team, to get updates on how everyone was doing. There was no need to ask for updates, because he was certain that if anyone did find Peter, they would let everyone know immediately. Steve walked in front of Ash, keeping his eyes peeled not only for Peter, but also for any lurking threats to Ash. At regular intervals, he would turn around and check to make sure Ash and Natasha were still where they should be. They walked side-by-side and both of them were just as diligent in looking for Peter as Steve was.

Their lack of success was disheartening, but not unexpected. To find one boy in a city like New York City was almost impossible.

Then, Steve heard a high, joyful voice cry out, “Ash!” and turned around just in time to see a young boy about Ash’s age tumble out of a car that was stopped at a stoplight a short distance behind them. The boy stepped from the car onto the sidewalk and then ran for Ash. “Ash!”

“Peter!” Ash turned around and saw the boy at the same time that Steve had and Ash broke into a run to get to him.

It was a warm sight and Steve smiled to see the happiness on Peter’s face and he knew that Ash would be overjoyed to have Peter safe, so he didn’t instantly run to catch up with Ash and, instead, allowed Ash and Peter to go to each other.

A crack of familiar noise that Steve had learned so well in the war - gunfire. People on the street screamed. Cars came to a screeching halt. Peter, less than a yard away from Ash, jerked. His head flew forward and Steve saw a spray of blood from Peter’s head. Peter fell, completely limp, right into Ash’s arms and Ash held him there for barely a second before he tightened his hold and dropped to the ground, pulling Peter with him and maneuvering himself until he was laying on top of Peter, nearly hiding Peter under his own body.

Thema Shehata-

She watched Peter - her sweet Peter! - fall and felt regret because that was the end of him and she was sure she’d never find anyone so perfectly to her taste as long as she lived. The regret at losing Peter was balanced with relief that one witness who could speak against her was gone. 

Her eyes drifted to Ash, on the ground with Peter. Sitwell wanted Ash alive, but if she shot him in that chaotic moment, then it was extremely unlikely anyone would ever know it was her who’d shot him and, while S.H.I.E.L.D. had found out about her, there would be no witness and she could possibly pass off the boy’s accusations as lies. So she aimed, again. Ash was an easy target, focused entirely on Peter rather than his own safety. 

A sudden movement near Ash distracted Shehata just enough to throw her aim off by the tiniest amount as she pulled the trigger. She realized the minute she heard her gun fire that it was The Black Widow who had moved towards Ash.

Steve-

Steve had, of course, broke into a run the minute he’d heard the first gunshot, but Natasha had been closer and he saw her reach for Ash, but she didn’t even have time to grab him before there was another gunshot and Natasha went down. Steve dropped to the ground as soon as he reached them and did his very best to shield Ash and Peter from the direction the gunman was obviously in. He reached out and grabbed Natasha’s hand and dragged her close enough that he could at least try to protect her, too. She was unconscious, her face was lax and pale. She’d taken a bullet in the abdomen and that was not good. Steve swallowed hard and tapped the communicator in his ear. 

“J.A.R.V.I.S., I need help, now! Natasha and a civilian have been shot. I can’t leave them, so the gunman is still at large.”

J.A.R.V.I.S., as reassuringly calm as ever, said, “Understood. Help is on the way.”

There was another gunshot and Steve tried, though he knew it was impossible, to curl his body in just the right way that he might protect all of them. He put a hand on Natasha’s wound and pressed. “Ash, are you hit?” When there was no answer, he looked from Natasha down to Ash. “Ash? Are you hurt? Did they hit you?”

Ash still didn’t answer, but he gently rubbed Peter’s cheek. “Come on, kid, don’t do this! Not again. Please, not again.” There was blood all over Peter’s face. Blood had sprayed onto Ash’s face, a gory imitation of freckles across his nose and cheeks. Both Ash and Peter had bright blood staining their hair. Peter didn’t respond to Ash’s attempts to wake him. His eyes were closed and he was limp and still. Ash made an awful choking sound. “I can’t do this, again. Peter? Peter!”

To Be Continued...


	34. Everything's Okay

Chapter 34: “Everything’s Okay.”

Blanca-

Blanca watched it happen. He watched Yut-Lung’s car pull to a stop at a traffic light and a boy he’d never seen before slipped out of the car. He saw Yut-Lung lean out of the car and yell after him. He saw the boy running to Ash and Ash running to the boy. And then the boy fell. Everything happened rather quickly after that. The boy fell into Ash’s arms and Ash, smart lad that he was, took both himself and the unknown boy to the ground, putting himself over the boy for protection. Natasha ran towards Ash and then she went down.

Blanca saw red.

Natasha lay motionless on the sidewalk.

Captain America finally reached them. He threw himself over Ash and the other boy, a living shield, and then pulled Natasha closer so he could use himself to protect her, too. 

Natasha was down. On the ground. She wasn’t moving.

And Blanca was thrown into a memory of standing at her grave side. His superiors had told him that Natasha had been killed by terrorists. They had buried her before his mission had ended, so sorry they couldn’t wait for him. He didn’t want them to be disrespectful to her, did he? Of course they buried her without waiting for him, his mission could have taken weeks or months, they couldn’t just leave her laying around until he returned. There had been photographs, someone had taken pictures of her laying in her own blood, just minutes after she’d been killed. 

But that had all been a lie and now she was down, again. If she was dead... dead before he could even speak to her...

Blanca’s well-trained eye traced an invisible line from where the boy and Natasha had been shot. He saw the shooter, then. He saw her with her gun in her hand and he saw her raise that gun.

Rifle raised up, trigger pulled. He hit his target, of course. The shooter - Thema Shehata, he recognized her from his study of world politics - was hit between the eyes, just as Blanca had intended. She went down instantly and he knew she was dead. He didn’t need to check, he knew he hadn’t missed because he didn’t miss. 

Natasha had been hit. She’d been shot. He dropped the rifle on the roof he’d been watching from and ran from his hiding spot. Every bit of his training screamed at him to retrieve his rifle, to go to the corpse he’d made and dispose of it sensibly, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. Natasha was shot. There was blood on the sidewalk. He needed to get to her.

Ash-

Ash held Peter in his arms and he saw Skipper die in his arms, again. He saw Jennifer falling, shot twice in the breast simply because she’d been standing near Ash and cared for him too much to run away when she’d had the chance. He felt the gun in his hands, smoking from the bullet he’d fired to kill Shorter who died only because Dino knew Shorter was Ash’s friend. And there was Peter, laying on the sidewalk with blood in his hair and on his face and - GOD! There was so much blood! - and it wasn’t fair, it just wasn’t fair!

He felt the looming form of Steve crouched over him and Steve had dragged the unconscious form of Natasha closer. Peter wasn’t moving. The blood was an awful contrast to his hair and skin. He wasn’t moving. Shot. He’d been shot.

Ash reached for his gun and, at the same time, squirmed off Peter and away from Steve.

“Wait! Ash, wait!” Steve grabbed Ash’s arm.

Yanking on his arm, Ash fought to escape Steve’s grip, but it was no good. He couldn’t move. “Let me go, damn it! I’ll kill ‘em!”

“Stop it! Just calm down!” Steve gave Ash a little shake. “Ash! Stop it! He’s not dead!”

Ash did stop. He looked at Steve and blinked and realized only then that his vision was blurred by tears. He blinked, again, and when he could see Steve clearly, he echoed, “He’s not dead?”

“The bullet only grazed the side of his head. Look. Head wounds always bleed a lot, they look terrible. You know how to take a pulse?” When Ash didn’t answer at once, Steve said, a little louder, “Do you know how to take a pulse?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” He put his hand on Peter’s throat and it took him far too long to find it, but his fingertips did land on the right spot and he felt the steady thump, thump of Peter’s heart. The relief Ash felt was almost painful. He put both hands on Peter’s face. His skin was still warm. Ash put a hand on Peter’s chest and felt it rise and fall. He put his hand just over Peter’s mouth and felt his breath as he exhaled. He was alive.

“Thank God. Thank you, God.” But his relief quickly mutated back into a fiery anger. He was going to kill the shooter. He didn’t know who they were or why they were shooting, but he was going to kill them. He started to push himself to his feet, but Steve put a hand on his shoulder, much in same the way Clint had done back at the Chang Dai when the gunmen had opened fire on them and nearly killed Nadia. Steve held Ash in place with embarrassing ease.

“Let me go!” Ash demanded. “Get your hands off me!”

“Look, listen to me!” Steve gave him a tiny shake that made Ash’s teeth chatter. “I need you to stay here. Can you hear me? I need you here, not running after someone who wants to kill you. I need to get all of you somewhere safe. The others are coming soon, but it’ll take them a few minutes. Right there,” he indicated a store just a few feet away. It was a candy store. Rosie’s Candy Dish. A cheesy name, but it was shelter and Ash wasn’t about to be too proud to pick and choose where he stayed. “I can carry them both, but I can’t do that AND put pressure on Natasha’s wound AND open the door. I need you to do those things for me. Can you do it?”

Ash stopping struggling against Steve. It was no good, anyway. It was like trying to arm wrestle Blanca. Ash had tried to do that once, but it had ended badly enough that they stuck to chess and go. Steve didn’t hurt him, didn’t even use enough pressure that any kind of bruise would be left when Ash was finally released, but he was unyielding in holding him in place. Besides, Ash couldn’t run off for revenge - not when people needed him.

“Yeah. Yeah, I can do it.” He put his hand on top of Steve’s where it sat on Natasha’s wound and waited until Steve pull his hand away before he pressed down. There was blood everywhere.

“Keep yourself in front of me,” Steve said while he gathered Peter up carefully in one arm. “I don’t want you getting shot the minute I stand up.” He reached for Natasha, but before he could even touch her, Blanca was there and Ash felt as much relief as he would have if Max had suddenly shown up.

Blanca slipped one arm under Natasha’s legs and the other behind her back then lifted her as easily as if he were picking up a doll. “Get the door, Ash.”

They managed to get Peter and Natasha inside the little store and laid out on the floor. There was no one in the store and Ash guessed they must have run out a back door the minute they’d heard gunfire. Ash couldn’t move from where he was kneeling at Natasha’s side, but he kept looking between Natasha and Peter and God! Why did everything always have to be so hard?

But Peter was alive and his heart had felt strong when Ash had felt it so he had high hopes.

Blanca was just about to pull down the blinds on the windows and the door when Yut-Lung burst in, his whole self ridged with tension, and one of his flunkies was right at his back. Yut-Lung went to Peter and looked down at him with something that Ash suspected might actually be concern. It made Ash do a double-take because Yut-Lung wasn’t the caring, concerned type of person. Yet, there he was, studying Peter with a little frown, his hands balled into fists, and his eyebrows drawn together. The concern was even more shocking than the new style Yut-Lung wore - blue jeans and flannel and a baseball cap. It was so... not him. And, yet, Ash, who sported a crew cut and a sweat suit simply because it was something Dino would have disapproved of, could understand the style change.

Blanca knelt next to Natasha, opposite of Ash. “The shooter is dead.” He didn’t look at either Ash or Yut-Lung for a moment, but stared at Natasha’s pale face. He reached out, as if he would stroke her face with his fingertips, but drew back at the last moment and put both hands on his lap. “I don’t know if there are other shooters out there. I suspect there may be, but the one who shot is dead.” He made a vague gesture towards the outside of the store. “Her body is in the alley, in that direction.”

“I’m going to have a look around,” Yut-Lung’s flunky told him before slipping out of the store.

There were a good few minutes while Yut-Lung said nothing, but watched Peter and Ash, not for the first time, wished he knew what Yut-Lung was thinking because if he was thinking about using Peter to hurt Ash, if anything he did put Peter in any kind of danger, then Ash was going to have to do something about it. He wasn’t going to let Peter get hurt anymore.

“He is in withdrawal,” Yut-Lung said after a while. “I have given him some medication for the symptoms, but it may last for some time.”

“Drugs?” Steve asked.

“Opium,” Ash supplied. “He’s been on it for years, but he didn’t know. It was just part of life.”

“Yes, well, part of life or not, he was very uncomfortable when he was brought to me.” Then he shifted his head, just a little, and looked at Ash out of the corner of his eyes. “It seems he’s not very well taken care of. Maybe I should keep him. I’m sure I can look after him.”

Ash bristled. “You? I wouldn’t trust you to look after a goldfish! I’m taking care of him. You wouldn’t even know what to do.”

“I’ll have you know - ”

“Enough!” Steve snapped at them both and his voice, as strong and stern as he was, made both Ash and Yut-Lung close their mouths and look at him. “This isn’t helping anything.” He looked at Yut-Lung. “You. You were at the hospital the other day. Yes?”

“I was.”

“Good. If you’re so concerned with this boy, then you can help. This place should have a bathroom. Go get some water and soap and come back. Peter needs his wound to be cleaned and bandaged. If you can find a first aid kit, get it, too.” Then he looked at Ash. “Just keep the pressure on her wound. As soon as Bruce gets here, he’ll take over.” He moved from Peter to kneel next to Ash and reached out to feel Natasha’s pulse. “She’s strong. She’ll be fine.” Then he looked away from Ash and at Blanca. His smile faded. “I think you must be Blanca. I’ve heard your description.”

And it was one more rock on the pile of Ash’s anxiety. He quickly said, “Yeah. That’s Blanca. He’s my chess teacher, just like I told you.” And he knew it came out badly. He’d said it too quickly, it hadn’t sounded genuine. 

Steve was watching him with such an expression that screamed how much he didn’t believe the lie. But he nodded. “Right. Chess.” 

Blanca said nothing and he kept staring at Natasha.

Yut-Lung returned with a basin of water and a cloth. “They have no soap. This place is revolting.” But he sat on his knees next to Peter and, without being asked, gently cleaned the blood off his face. Ash watched him and wondered what Shorter would think of Yut-Lung’s hands cleaning away the stain of violence on an innocent’s face.

‘Shorter would forgive him.’ Because Shorter was amazing, like that. He would forgive.

They all fell into silence. There were no more sounds of gunshot. There was, for a time, no sound of traffic or voices from the world outside. Ash took a breath and then another. He looked around the store, all was pastel and rainbows. Lollipops were displayed on one wall and in a glass case in the center of the room were dozens of types of chocolates. There was taffy and cotton candy, candy bars with familiar wrappers and old fashioned candies in fancy little bags. There were caramels and sticks of flavored sugar. Every type of candy that could be imagined seemed to be in that one large room they’d taken shelter in... that room they were bleeding in. The walls were pink while pale blue and yellow ran in stripes near the ceiling. The place screamed of innocent happiness and Ash felt dreadfully out of place.

Yut-Lung’s flunky returned and went straight to his side. “There’s a dead woman down the street. A bullet between the eyes.”

Ash didn’t dare look at Blanca, not when Steve was right there and knew Ash was lying. He prayed that Yut-Lung wouldn’t give Blanca away either because Blanca was doing nothing to protect himself. He just sat there and looked all wretched while he stared at Natasha.

‘Sloppy and unprofessional.’ That thought pushed its’ way to the forefront of Ash’s mind and sat there. Blanca had been married to a woman named Natasha, he’d told Ash long ago. He’d never spoken more about it and Ash had been so grateful to have Blanca, strong and bright, in his dark life that he hadn’t wanted to cause Blanca any pain and had never asked more about his wife.

Of course, it might just be a coincidence.

Peter began to fuss. Everyone’s attention went to him. He groaned and whined and opened his eyes. He looked up at Yut-Lung. “My head hurts.” Then he looked around at all the people and Ash saw the familiar fear creeping into Peter’s eyes before he blinked and the fear was hidden. 

Ash could almost hear Dino praising Peter with, “Good boy. Very good. Always let people see how happy you are to see them. You are always happy to be with people, my good, sweet boy.”

Peter looked at each face around him until he finally saw Ash and then his eyes lit up. “Ash!” Almost immediately, he frowned. “Did you hit me? Again?!”

“I didn’t hit you, Petey. Someone else hurt your head. And I’m real sorry I hit you in the elevator.”

And that was all it took for Peter to smile, again. He started to sit up, but grimaced and lay right back down. With tears in his eyes, he whimpered, “My head really, really hurts.”

“Lay still, you silly thing,” Yut-Lung told him. He leaned over Peter to get a close look at the wound and his long hair fell over his shoulder. He irritably tossed it back where it belonged. “You were only grazed. You’re very lucky.”

“I don’t feel lucky.” Peter looked over at Ash. “What happened? What’s going on?” He raised up a hand and rubbed his forehead, but winced when he accidentally touched his wound. “Is it time to go home? Ash, I wanna go home. Papa’s gonna be so mad ‘n if I don’t go back soon he’s gonna give me the belt. Please, Ash, please. Gotta go home.”

And Ash’s heart broke just a little more. “I... I’ll talk to Papa. Don’t worry. Everything’s okay. You just stay there and be still and quiet. There’s nothing for you to worry about.”

Phil-

Phil ran. He’d been just passing Sissy’s Sock Store when J.A.R.V.I.S.’ voice, tense and strained, came through the communicator in his ear.

“Natasha and a civilian have been shot. Steve is in need of aid.”

And Phil felt all of his training, all his experience and instincts go on full alert. First Clint had nearly been shot in Chinatown, then Bruce had been shot looking for Ash, and now Natasha. That was entirely too many of his people being put in danger. They were in danger all the time, of course - that was a big part of their jobs - but that didn’t mean he liked it. He never liked it. “Where are they?”

As soon as J.A.R.V.I.S. told him where Steve was, according to the locator in the communicator Steve wore, Phil ran. They had taken to the streets on foot to look for Peter, but that meant it would take everyone longer to get to Steve. Luckily, Phil wasn’t really all that far away.

As he ran, he said, “J.A.R.V.I.S., has Tony asked for the Iron Man suit?”

“Yes, it is on its’ way to him.”

“Thank you.” And he kept running with visions of Natasha bleeding out on the ground floating through his mind until he realized he wasn’t doing anything but upsetting himself and turned his focus on simply running.

By the time Phil finally reached the candy store where Steve had taken shelter with Ash, Natasha, and the civilian, Tony, in the Iron Man suit, was just landing. The candy store looked closed, the door and windows all had shades drawn over them. Phil had his gun in hand and look around cautiously, but he saw no sign of any threats. The street was worrisomely empty, but he did see a few people in a nearby apartment house peeking out of windows. Tony nodded a greeting to Phil.

Instead of reaching for the door immediately, Phil raised his voice and called out, “It’s us! Steve, it’s Phil and Tony!”

The door opened and Steve, looking tense and strained around the eyes, stood in the doorway. His shoulders visibly sagged. “J.A.R.V.I.S. called for paramedics. They’ll be here any minute.” And he stepped aside to let Phil and Tony in. 

There seemed to be blood everywhere, but Phil was a professional and had been through war and trauma of his own. He didn’t panic. He couldn’t because his people needed him to be in charge and strong and he wouldn’t fail them. He walked right in and took in the scene in an instant.

Natasha was on her back on the floor. Ash knelt at her side with both of his hands, one on top of the other, pressed against her torso, near her belly. There was blood on Ash’s face. Only a foot or so away from Ash was a boy Phil didn’t know, a blonde, skinny boy with wide, frightened eyes. Next to him sat a more familiar face. Phil had seen him at the hospital when they were leaving, taking Ash to The Avengers’ Tower for the first time. An Asian boy, even smaller than Ash, with extremely long hair and an angry, dangerous glint in his eyes. Just next to him was another Asian person Phil didn’t know. Finally, there was Blanca.

Phil blinked.

Blanca, Ash’s chess teacher who’d helped Bruce to settle Ash enough in the hospital to get his medical treatment and save his life. Blanca, who Ash was desperate to shield from all the danger in his life. Blanca, who HYDRA was actively hunting and they didn’t know why. Even sitting on the floor, as he was, he still looked as huge as he had the first time Phil had met him. He didn’t look up when Phil and Tony walked in, but he sat at Natasha’s side opposite of Ash, and stared at her. That wasn’t entirely unexpected. Many people liked to stare at Natasaha, but there was a barely visible sadness in his eyes when he did and it was so painful to look at, but then Blanca looked up and smiled at Phil and the sadness was gone.

In that instant, the rest of Phil’s team arrived. Tony and Steve went out to look for the shooter while Clint went straight to Natasha’s side. 

“Nat? Can you hear me? Open your eyes, come on. You’re not gonna let one little bullet win, are you? You’re safe. Everyone’s here, you’re safe.” And he kept talking to her even when Max and Ibe-san hurried in with Bruce. 

Bruce and Max, the only ones with any kind of medical training, went right to work with Natasha. Ash was moved away and Max’s hand replaced his after Bruce took a quick look at Natasha’s wound. Blanca moved away, with Ash. Ash raised an eyebrow at him. “Aren’t you going to...”

“She’s fine. She is with her friends.” And Blanca smiled at Ash. “All is well. Don’t fret.”

“Don’t fret, he says.” Ash stared at his bloody hands. Whatever he was thinking, it didn’t show on his face. “I’ve got blood on my hands, again.”

“It will wash off,” Ibe-san said. He eyed Blanca cautiously, but his caution didn’t stop him from going to Ash. He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and began to wipe Ash’s hands clean. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

“Good. That’s good.” And Ibe-san said nothing else as he continued to clean the blood off Ash’s hands. When he was done, he said, “We were very worried when J.A.R.V.I.S. said there had been shooting.”

“I’m good. They’re clean enough.” He took his hands away from Ibe-san then pulled out his gun. “I’m going to find out if there are more shooters.”

The boy who’d been laying down sat up. “Don’t go! Please, don’t go. Ash, I missed you.”

Ash put his gun away. “I missed you, too, Peter.” Without any care for everyone watching, Ash hugged Peter and the two of them stayed that way for several minutes. “I’m so glad you’re alright. You need to lay down and rest.” Then Ash pulled away and had Peter lay back down, but didn’t move away from him, even though it meant staying near Yut-Lung, who he seemed to dislike.

The candy store’s door opened and Steve and Tony walked in. They reported that there was a dead woman a distance down the sidewalk, half in an alley where she’d fallen after being shot. “And you’re going to be thrilled to hear this,” Tony said, retracting the mask of the Iron Man suit so his face was visible. “The dead woman is Thema Shehata.”

It was big news, but not good news. Phil wanted to swear. Alive, she could have given them information about other HYDRA operatives hidden in The World Security Council or in S.H.I.E.L.D. or anywhere else they might be lurking, but dead she couldn’t tell them anything. “Tony, secure the body. I need to call Fury and have him get a team over here to retrieve it. Steve, any other threats in the immediate area? Whoever shot her might still be nearby.”

“No. We’re clear.” He looked at Bruce and Max working with Natasha and Clint desperately talking to her. “What do you need to me to, Phil? I feel like I’m in the way.”

“You’re not in the way. Wait at the door for the ambulance so they can find us easily.” Phil wasn’t at all surprised when Steve jumped to do as he was told, clearly thankful to have something to do. He turned his attention to the other victim. The boy. He was laying down, just as Ash had told him to, and watching everyone with a troubled, bewildered expression. “Hello. I’m going to take a stab in the dark and guess that your name is Peter.”

And Peter’s expression went from troubled to thrilled in a heartbeat. “Yes! Yes, how did you guess?!”

Yut-Lung and Ash hovered protectively when Phil squatted down to talk to Peter as an excuse to examine his wound. It wasn’t serious. Not nearly as serious as Natasha’s injury, but it did look gruesome. There was a long, horizontal gnash down the side of his head, from above his ear to his forehead, where the bullet must have grazed him. It wouldn’t even require stitches, from what Phil saw, but there was blood all over his shirt and drying in his hair. Phil noticed, without drawing attention to it, that Yut-Lung held a wet, bloody paper towel and it seemed clear that he’d been trying to clean up Peter without really knowing what he was doing.

Phil answered Peter, “Ash told me all about you. We’ve been looking for you. I’m glad we found you.”

Just then, the scream of an ambulance’s siren grabbed everyone’s attention. Phil looked up. He saw Steve in the doorway waving to get the ambulance driver’s attention and Bruce and Max still watching Natasha very closely. He also saw that Blanca was gone. Somehow, he wasn’t entirely surprised.

And then everything was a mad rush as the paramedics came in and started working on Natasha. Everyone backed out of the way, even Clint backed away with some encouragement from Bruce to let them work and, once they did what they could and announced they had to get her to the hospital immediately, Clint was right back at her side. He would go with her, no one doubted that for an instant. The moment they were gone, it was time for Peter to be dealt with as a second ambulance arrived.

Ash sat with Peter when the paramedics examined his wound and looked at his eyes and asked him questions. Every now and then Peter would look confused and Ash would answer the question for him.

“How old you?”

“He’s about seventeen, I think. We don’t really know.”

“Do you know what day it is?”

“No, he doesn’t. Stop badgering him. He’s fine.” Ash curled an arm around Peter’s shoulders. “He doesn’t need a hospital for a little nick like that. I can bandage it myself.”

At that point, Max stepped up next to Phil. He still had Natasha’s blood on his hands. “The kid needs to go to the hospital,” he said, softly. “Ash won’t like it, but the kid really should go. It’s not just the head wound.”

Phil nodded, wordlessly. He knew exactly what Max was talking about. Ash and Peter were survivors of Club Cod, survivors of terrible abuse. Ash was, aside from psychological wounds and eating habits, relatively healthy. They didn’t know about Peter. He could have any number of injuries or, even worse, STDs. He needed to be taken care of and the best place for that was at the hospital.

“Max, will you call Charlie and let him know what’s going on? I expect someone’s already called the police about the gunshots and they’ll be here shortly, but in case they haven’t, I think Charlie would like to know. I’ll try to talk to Ash about - ”

But before Phil could even finish his sentence, Yut-Lung decided to make his opinion clear on the matter.

“Have you entirely lost any sense that you might have had?” He demanded of Ash, standing over Ash and Peter, with his hands on his hips and a sneer on his face. “He is clearly underfed and having withdrawal symptoms. That can be very dangerous. Don’t you have any care for him at all? It’s not all about what you want, even if you want to take him home with you. I can tell you this right now - if you aren’t going to take care of him, I’ll take him myself. I can hire private doctors who can look after him all the time if I want. I had brought him back so he could be with you, he did keep going on about you and how you were going to take him home, but maybe he needs someone who can take better care of him because I assure you that I will certainly - ”

“Shut up!” Ash snapped. “You never stop talking! And he doesn’t need a hospital for that little scratch.”

Max went over to Ash and put one of his huge hands on Ash’s skinny shoulders. “It’s not just a little scratch, Ash. He passed out. Maybe it was just because of the pain, but the fact is that he passed out and stayed that way for a while, so I think it would be best to make sure that bullet didn’t do damage we can’t see. And if he’s withdrawing from the opium, then he should definitely see a doctor.”

Ash, as he often did, listened to Max and reluctantly agreed. Explaining it to Peter was a challenge in itself because he seemed to think Ash was leaving him and that nearly had him in tears, again. 

“No!” Peter cried out. He looked at Ash with big, watery eyes, then at Yut-Lung, and finally back to Ash. “Don’t make me go. Please? I’ll be good. I’ll be quiet, please don’t make me go.” He reached up with both hands and took hold of Ash’s sleeve. “Please?”

“It’s okay,” Ash reassured Peter. Then he looked up and fixed a determined look on Max. “I’m going with him.”

Max chuckled. “Of course you are.”

With a disdainful sniff, Yut-Lung turned his head away from them, though Phil wouldn’t actually say he seemed angry, just upset about something.

Phil asked him, “May I ask what brought you here?”

Yut-Lung raised an eyebrow at Phil. “I was escorting Peter to your tower. He came into my possession by chance and seemed eager to get himself back to Ash. ”

Ash said, “And what’s the price for your help?”

“How rude. What a terrible way to talk to a person doing you a favor.” Yut-Lung put his nose in the air. “I could have just kept him. He’s very cute and would look nice in my garden - one more flower to admire.”

Ash was on the verge of growling and if he had been a cat, his hackles would have been raised. “He isn’t a flower, you...!”

The brewing conflict was nicely evaded when Peter tugged on Ash’s sleeve and, when Ash looked at him, he smiled and said, “This is my friend. He’s my friend. My new friend.” And he held out his hand to Yut-Lung. When Yut-Lung just blinked at him in puzzlement, Peter wiggled his fingers. Finally, Yut-Lung stepped forward and took Peter’s hand. Peter beamed at him and then at Ash. “This my friend and you’re my friend so you two should be friends and we can all be happy and... and... oh. I don’t feel good.”

“The medication I gave him for his withdrawal will be wearing off by now.” Yut-Lung pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Ash. “Give this to his doctor. It’s what I made for him with all the ingredients. And he hasn’t eaten much, so he’ll likely be hungry.” He took his hand away from Peter and gave him a brusque pat on the top of his head. “You’ll be fine, now. I will contact you as soon as I am able to. Goodbye.” And he left with his companion.

Everyone followed when the paramedics gently led Peter outside to the ambulance. The moment they stepped outside, Phil looked down at where Thema Shehata had been killed and saw that several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had arrived to do their work. He turned his attention back to Peter and watched as the paramedics carefully helped him into the back of the ambulance. Peter never once let go of Ash’s hand. As he watched the door on the ambulance close, Phil said, “Tony, go along to the hospital with them. Peter is a witness, too. He needs to be guarded just as much as Ash does.” 

Tony nodded and stepped outside before he closed the mask of the Iron Man suit and took off flying after the ambulance. Just before the ambulance turned a corner, Phil saw Tony land on the roof of the ambulance where he sat down, apparently content to wait there until they arrived at the hospital.

Police cars began to show up and pulled to stop at the alley where the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had begun their work at the scene Thema Shehata’s death.

“Steve, I want to you go help Clint guard Natasha just in case she was the target of the shooter.” Because they couldn’t ignore that possibility. She had enough enemies and they knew there were HYDRA agents in the city, any one of whom would have reason to want to kill her. “Bruce, I know you don’t like being in public, but...”

“I’ll go help Tony keep an eye on Ash and Peter.”

“You won’t be alone, either,” Max declared. “If you think I’m leave the boy, you’re crazy. Ash gets emotional and all those I.Q. points of his turn into mush. There’s going be stuff that has to be signed and he’s going to be irritated by anyone at that hospital who upsets Peter and God forbid anyone tries to separate them.” Max shook his head in resignation, but he didn’t hesitate to start walking in the direction of the hospital. “Come on, Shunichi. We can be there in twenty minutes if we start now. Maybe we’ll be able to catch a cab.” 

Shunichi followed without question.

“I’ll ask J.A.R.V.I.S. to send us a car so we can get back to The Tower,” Bruce assured Phil before he, too, followed Max.

Alone in the candy store, Phil closed his eyes for a moment to organize his thoughts. He made a note to send an apology to the store’s owner for the mess they’d made and to have S.H.I.E.L.D. cover the clean up costs. It wasn’t much of a mess, but there was blood on the floor and things had been hurriedly pushed out of the way to make room for the paramedics. There would have to be arrangements made for Peter because, unlike Ash, Peter didn’t appear to be capable of making his own decisions and any court was sure to judge him as being in need of a guardian. The police would need witness statements from Ash and Steve and would probably also want to speak with Peter about both the shooting and Club Cod.

He straightened his tie and tried not to think about the innocent boy who didn’t understand how close he’d come to death and Natasha who lingered on the edge of it. There were explanations to be made, paperwork to be filled out, and arrangements to be made for Peter. He didn’t mind. This was his job - to deal with the details so his team could do their important work without worrying about such little things. He headed towards the alley where Thema Shehata had been shot dead, where S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and uniformed police officers were gathered together. 

Gregory-

He had been surprised to get a phone call from Thema Shehata telling him that she had finally done it and gotten the rings from Blanca, which meant Blanca was dead. Surprised and suspicious, he still went to meet with her.

He hadn’t really needed to. He’d resigned himself to taking his chances against Blanca rather than keep waiting for her to produce the rings, but if she had managed to kill Blanca, then it would make his job so much easier and he wouldn’t have to be so careful. He would meet her to see that she’d done it, but she wouldn’t get the Banana Fish even if she had killed him. He’d never had any intention of giving it to her.

Just as he arrived, there was shooting. Gregory hid himself behind a large sign propped up at the doorway of a small restaurant. From that hiding spot, he’d watched it all play out. Ash had been there, walking with a couple of The Avengers, and then Thema Shehata had started shooting. Some unknown boy was shot and then one of The Avengers. Then, there was another gunshot and Thema Shehata was shot and fell. People screamed and ran and cars sped off so quickly their wheels squealed. The street was emptied and, just as Gregory started to think that it might be safe to leave his hiding spot, Blanca appeared.

So, Shehata had lied to him. No great surprise.

Ambulances arrived and left. The police arrived and stayed. Gregory quietly left. Ash had left in one of the ambulances before Gregory could do anything so there was no reason for him to stay and he needed to survive and stay free long enough to deal with Ash.

He wouldn’t fail Papa, not when there was no one else to avenge him. He couldn’t let Ash survive after what he’d done - the ungrateful punk. He’d heard Papa call Ash a punk often enough to know that even Papa knew Ash really was no good, even if he did spoil him. 

He put a hand on the tranquilizer gun slung over his shoulder and hidden under his coat. The last dose of Banana Fish was loaded and ready to be used, just as soon as he got the right opportunity. All he had to do was wait.

To Be Continued...


	35. A Guardian

A/N: Dear Readers: Next week’s chapter will be delayed a week due to the holiday.

Chapter 35 : A Guardian

Sitwell-

“Thema Shehata is dead,” he’d reported to his superiors in HYDRA as soon as he’d learned the news. He sat in his car when he did, on his way to the crime scene. “It was reported only moments ago and Fury assigned me to supervise the clean up. Her bank accounts, phone, computer, and online activities will have to be scrubbed to clear them of any hint that she might have been connected to HYDRA. It needs to be done immediately. She need to be seen as acting alone. What do you want me to do?”

The line was quiet on the other end for a time before his superior answered with, “You will take up her mission. She was showing disappointing results. See that you do better. Retrieve the Banana Fish.”

“And my own mission?”

“The boy is now your secondary priority. The Banana Fish must come first.”

Sitwell frowned. “I think his potential shouldn’t be underestimated.”

“Your opinion has been noted. Find the Banana Fish.”

“... Yes, ma’am.”

With his orders clear - even if he strongly disagreed with them - he drove to the scene of the crime where the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who were to take their orders from him had already arrived and were securing the area. He parked nearby and strode over to the agents waiting for him, even as he took stock of the surroundings. He saw the candy store that he had been told Phil and his Avengers, as well as Ash Lynx, had taken shelter in. The street was empty of cars and people. He saw some people in the windows of buildings, watching.

Thema Shehata, when he finally reached her body, lay crumpled on the ground, half-in and half-out of an alley. Her gun was still in her hand, damning evidence that she hadn’t been innocently walking down the street when she’d been killed. If that weren’t proof enough, then the cry of an ambulance, The Black Widow being rushed to the hospital, and the wounded boy being helped into a second waiting ambulance by Ash Lynx was surely proof enough of what she’d been up to.

It was hard to keep his face still and uninterested when he turned back to Shehata’s empty face. ‘You’re lucky you’re dead. If you were still alive and I found out you tried to kill my project you would regret it.’ How dare she? The biggest find for HYDRA in years and she had tried to kill him just to protect herself. Selfish. He took a short time to photograph the state of her body and where she had fallen. The hole between her eyes had been an excellent shot and if The Black Widow weren’t unconscious, he would have pinned the death on her. His second guess was that it had been Hawkeye. It was the type of thing he excelled in - a perfect shot.

The police came by and, unsurprisingly, so did Phil.

It was actually a bit routine, really. After a few words Phil went back to rejoin his team and, once the police had been assured the the whole thing was a S.H.I.E.L.D. matter that they didn’t have to get involved with, Sitwell was able to let his mind settle on his inherited mission - to get the Banana Fish. 

What did he know?

He knew that Gregory had the Banana Fish and that Thema Shehata had entirely failed to convince him to give up the drug. Gregory had worked for many years as Golzine’s personal bodyguard. He knew all Golzine’s secrets, knew where all the skeletons were buried. He knew where the Banana Fish was and he’d said he would give it to Shehata if she killed Blanca. That, unfortunately, was all he knew about Gregory.

What did he know about Banana Fish?

A mind control drug with no antidote and it was that incurable aspect of it that made the drug so valuable. If there was a cure, no one would want it. He knew that Golzine had been showing it off to potential buyers and, rumor had it, that he’d intended to sell it to certain government officials. He’d even conducted some shockingly public demonstrations for his potential buyers.

The sad fact was that Sitwell knew very little else. If nothing else, Golzine had been very, very good at keeping his secrets.

The problem was that Gregory had the Banana Fish and didn’t want to give it up. He was in hiding and none of the many forces out looking for him had been able to find him. What Sitwell needed was a way to lure Gregory out of hiding. 

Now... what would draw Gregory out?

What was he really after? If he was as loyal as he seemed, he would want revenge and that meant he’d be going after Ash Lynx who was set to drag Golzine’s name through the mud. That couldn’t be allowed. Sitwell wanted Ash. He needed him, even if the higher-ups didn’t agree, and could see not only his own career benefiting from Ash, but also the very future of HYDRA. But Gregory surely wanted Ash dead and it couldn’t be forgotten that he also wanted Blanca - the legendary Blanca! - dead. That would be a waste. Sitwell had never had any aspirations of gaining Blanca’s skills for HYDRA as Blanca was well-known to be independent and very choosy when it came to what contracts he took. He was also extremely good at staying under the radar when he didn’t want to be found. But if Sitwell could find him and tempt him to work for HYDRA (it would have be a willing agreement because he suspected force wouldn’t work on Blanca), then it would be a great boon for their organization. Blanca had a reputation unlike any other - he didn’t fail, he didn’t tire, he was relentless. Any contract he took with a client, he would fulfill. His perfect tract record earn him the right to demand whatever payment he pleased. An assassin, a hunter, a spy... all that and more. What a remarkable teacher he would be.

By why would Gregory want Blanca dead?

Many people undoubtedly wanted Blanca dead, but why would Gregory be willing to give up something so valuable as the Banana Fish just to have Blanca dead, especially when his main target ought to be Ash? Unless Blanca was the one to actually kill Golzine. That was possible. The autopsy report had shown that he’d been shot multiple times before falling into the fire. Multiple shots to kill a target? Blanca’s reputation would have him on par with Hawkeye - a one shot kill sort of guy. But Thema Shehata had been killed with one bullet, one precisely aimed bullet.

If Blanca had been nearby and killed Shehata... why? To protect Ash Lynx?

If killing Ash Lynx was Gregory’s main goal and he found it necessary to have Blanca killed, then it stood to reason that there was some connection between Blanca and Ash Lynx.

Why would Blanca protect Ash Lynx?

“We’re finished here, sir.”

Sitwell pulled himself away from his thoughts and smiled at the agents looking to him for instructions. The body had been loaded into the transport. All evidence had been collected - bagged and tagged - and even the blood and bits of brain had been cleaned off the sidewalk, all in the space of fifteen minutes. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents really were very efficient. “Excellent job, agents. Get everything back to headquarters. I’ll follow in my vehicle.”

“Yes, sir!” They saluted and Sitwell felt a surge of vain pride at the enemy’s agents saluting him, however unknowingly. 

At the Hospital-  
Bruce-

The hospital waiting room was cold. Bruce was almost shivering. The others didn’t seem bothered. Bruce hadn’t seen Clint since he’d left the crime scene with Natasha in the ambulance but Phil had assured everyone that Natasha was in the operating room and getting just the care she needed. Bruce and Tony stayed in the waiting room where they waited for Peter’s check-up to finish.

It wasn’t exactly a check up. Not a typical one, anyway. 

Ash was inside the room with Peter because Peter wouldn’t let go of Ash’s hand, but the doctor who’d been asked to examine Peter, Doctor Joe Rupert (not Doctor Myra because Peter would be scared of her, according to Ash), had insisted on his patient’s privacy. Steve, meanwhile, stayed just outside the door of the examination room as a compromise between privacy for Peter and security for both Peter and Ash.

In the quiet of the waiting room, Bruce closed his eyes and let his mind go still, so still that he didn’t really hear any of the voices or sounds in the waiting room, still enough that he almost felt as if he were going to sleep. There, deep in the middle of his peaceful mind slept Hulk. It wasn’t a peaceful sleep. Hulk rumbled and grumbled, twisted and turned, ready at a moment’s notice and, as if he could sense Bruce’s attention on him, he began to wake. Not fully, but enough that Bruce backed off before alarming Hulk too much. After he’d found Ash in that abandoned lot and Hulk had taken over their body, he hadn’t given Bruce any real indication of what had happened, though Bruce did get the impression that Hulk hadn’t been nearly so agitated as he normally was when they changed places.

Bruce drew himself away from Hulk and back to the ‘awake’ world of the waiting room. He was calm. There was no reason for Hulk to think he needed to come out. It had been hard to stay calm - it was always hard to stay calm - when he had seen that Natasha had been hurt, but he had managed it. Having his team mates injured was always terrible. They were the foundation of his life and if he lost even one of them, his whole world would be destroyed. He remembered living without friends, without family, for far too long and he never wanted to live like that, again.

Tony sat down in the chair next to Bruce. No longer in the Iron Man suit, he looked every inch the respectable businessman that he was. “You doing okay, buddy?”

“Yeah. Fine.” Bruce didn’t like the large, floor-to-ceiling windows that made up an entire wall of the waiting room. It had likely been meant to make the place look bright and cheery with sunshine streaming in and a view of a carefully maintained garden, but it made Bruce feel exposed.

“You can go back, if you want.” Tony stretched out his legs in front of him and didn’t look at Bruce when he said it. “No reason everyone has to stay.”

“I’ll stay.” Because he might have been scared, but Natasha was still in danger. He couldn’t leave until he knew that she would be alright. “Any word about Peter?”

Tony shook his head. “They’re still taking a look at him. Poor kid. You know, it’s times like this that my faith in humanity slips right into the sewer. That kid is about as helpless as a person can be and not only does he have to live with what was done to him at Club Cod and deal with drug withdrawal when he doesn’t even understand he was taking drugs, but now he gets shot.”

Bruce wrapped his arms around himself. “Humans can be horrible. And they can be wonderful.” Because he had seen Ash holding Peter’s hand when they got into the ambulance. He had seen the anguished look on Ibe-san and Max’s faces when J.A.R.V.I.S. had told them that there had been shooting and Ash was involved. He had seen the paramedics working so hard to save Natasha and how patient and gentle they’d been with Peter. Yes, sometimes humans were wonderful.

After a time, Doctor Rupert, a man somewhere between sixty and seventy years old, walked out of the examination room. He was not happy. “Are you two with Peter?”

Tony stepped forward. “We’re with him. What can you tell us?”

“Mister Stark,” Of course he knew who Tony was, nearly everyone did. “Are you Peter’s legal guardian?” 

“Ah... no.”

“Then I need to speak with his legal guardian about his condition.” Doctor Rupert’s eyes traveled around the room, from Bruce to Max and then to Ibe-san.

Max said, “I’ll take responsibility for him.”

Doctor Rupert replied, “And that’s very kind of you, but this is a legal matter. He is clearly not capable of informed consent and I can’t go around discussing his medical state with just anyone. If he doesn’t have a guardian, then one will have to be assigned.”

Bruce and Tony exchanged a look. They both knew Peter needed a guardian, but there was none to be had. Phil would, undoubtedly, take care of that when he didn’t have to worry for Natasha. Ever the smooth-talker, Tony smiled. “We know. Believe me, we know he needs to be looked after. We recently found him and we’re all very concerned for him. We’d be happy to take responsibility for him. We wouldn’t want to do anything that isn’t strictly in Peter’s best interests. We’d really like to see the kid, just to see how he’s doing. He was scared as a little mouse the last I saw him and his friend - that’s the nice kid who’s keeping him company, Ash? - well that friend is under our protection, so we should check on him, too.” He smiled all the time while talking and though Doctor Rupert didn’t look exactly impressed with him, he at least didn’t try to keep them away from Peter and Ash.

“You can see them. Peter’s calm enough at the moment, so I’ll thank you to keep things mellow, if you know what I mean. There’s no reason to get him upset. Come with me.”

They were taken to an examination room where they met Steve in the hall. Doctor Rupert knocked on the door and called out, “Can we come in?”

Ash yelled back, “Who’s ‘we’?”

“Your doctor and your guards,” Doctor Rupert replied.

“Yeah, come in.”

Peter sat on the exam table and Ash stood next to him. Ash glanced briefly over at everyone when the door opened, but kept his attention on Peter. “Your shoes are untied. You remember how to tie them?”

Peter nodded and eagerly pulled one foot up onto the exam table to show how well he could do it. Ash carded his fingers through Peter’s hair to straighten it. “There. Good as new. And you got through your first visit to a hospital without crying. I’m real proud of you, Petey.”

‘Yes,’ Bruce thought. ‘Humans could be wonderful.’

“I like it here,” Peter said, without looking up from his shoe. “Everyone’s nice and I got a sticker.” He fondly patted the tiny rainbow sticker on his shirt. Then he pulled his other foot up to tie that shoe. “Are we going home, now?”

“You’re going to stay with me.”

“At home? I thought you lived with Papa Dino, now.”

Ash sat on the exam table with Peter. “I don’t live with Papa Dino anymore. I take care of myself. And now I’ll take care of you.”

Peter looked puzzled. “But... I gotta go home.”

“Our old home is gone,” Ash said it very slowly. “Now, we’re gonna have a new home. And new rules.”

Peter shifted, uncomfortably. “I don’t like this.”

“I know. But it’s gonna be better. No more customers. No more appointments. Lots of nice food.”

“No more appointments? Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” Ash gave Peter’s arm a gentle squeeze, then frowned up at their audience. “Jeezum Cripes! What is this, a sardine can?”

Doctor Rupert chuckled. “Quite right. If you boys are ready...”

“I’m ready!” Peter cheerfully finished tying his shoes.

“Good. Then, why don’t we go to a private waiting room? It will be more comfortable for everyone and we have something to discuss.”

The private waiting room was quite small compared to the main waiting room they had been in. There were two chairs and a sofa. No windows. The floors were carpeted. It was a soft, comfortable room done all in neutral colors, obviously designed to feel relaxing. 

Doctor Rupert explained, “I would like Peter to speak with a social worker who deals with patients like him.” He gave Peter a gentle smile. “It’s just someone to make sure we take care of you the right way. We want what’s best for you.” Then he looked back at everyone else. “I have also contacted the local police about this matter as Peter was shot, but it turns out they already knew and are sending someone over. Our hospital’s legal department has been informed about this case.”

A knock on the waiting room’s door interrupted him and when he opened the door, there was a small, friendly looking woman in a sharp suit. She smiled all around and shook hands, introducing herself as the social worker. “I just need to speak with Peter for a little while. Alone.”

And Ash was most definitely not happy. He sat next to Peter on the sofa. “He doesn’t like women.”

“I’m afraid that can’t be helped. I’ll be as quick as possible.”

Ash scowled and his whole body tensed. It was only when Max put a hand on his shoulder that Ash appeared to make an effort to relax. “Fine. I’ll...”

“No!” Peter, who’d been watching and listening to everything, burst out. Then, just as suddenly, he lowered his face and muttered. “Sorry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t yell. I’ll be good.”

Ash’s entire demeanor changed, like someone had flipped a switch in his mind. He smiled brightly. “You don’t have to be scared. Everyone here wants to help you. And I’ll be close by. As soon as they’re done talking to you, I’ll come back. They’re only gonna talk to you. You can do that, right?”

It was disturbing how Peter’s upset flashed into a sweet smile, mimicking Ash’s. “Yes. Yes, I can. I can do it.” He looked at the social worker. “Thank you for wanting to talk to me. I’ll be very good for you.”

Just like Ash, Peter had slipped on a mask to hide his true feelings and, just like Ash, he had done it so well that it fairly screamed of a long practiced move. Protection, Bruce guessed. A way to protect themselves by being whatever the authority wanted them to be. Had all the children at Club Cod learned that trick?

The smile stayed on Ash’s face only until he left the little waiting room and the door closed behind him. The moment that door closed, a thundercloud settled over his face. Steve, meanwhile, stayed just outside the waiting room, still guarding Peter. Ash wanted to stay there, too, but Max and Ibe-san managed to convince him that it wasn’t safe for too many people to loiter in hospital corridors because doctors and nurses sometimes had to rush here or there and they didn’t want to be in the way. Reluctantly, Ash agreed and went back to the main waiting room with them.

Once back in the waiting room, Max took Ash by the arm and pulled him aside, but not quite far enough that Bruce couldn’t hear what they were saying. “You were planning to go somewhere?” Max asked. “Natasha said something about that at breakfast. She said something about you eating a lot because you were fueling up for a mission.”

“That’s not exactly what she said.” And when Max continued to give him a flat look, Ash rolled his eyes and huffed. “Right. I might have had something planned for today and needed the extra fuel. Eating isn’t always easy, but she’s right - it’s fuel and I knew I’d need it.”

“You were planning to go after Gregory, weren’t you?”

Ash shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, now.”

“It does.”

With a look down at his shoes, then out the large windows, Ash said, “Maybe. Maybe not. Not like I can do anything right now, though.” He looked back at the doors that led into the main part of the hospital from the waiting room. “Peter needs me. I can’t do anything until he’s settled.”

Max took him by the shoulder and gave him a shake. “A lot of people need you. Don’t go off on your own to find that scum.”

Ash didn’t answer and looked away from Max. He started to pace around the room, glaring at anyone who went close to him.

“Best to leave him on his own for now.” Max sat next to Bruce. “He’s just angry.”

Bruce leaned away from Max and tensed, unable to shake the feeling that he should run. “JUST angry?”

“Yeah. He’s angry a lot. You might have noticed.”

Bruce had.

And so they waited. Ash paced. Clint stayed wherever Natasha was, though Phil drifted back and forth from waiting with Clint to the waiting room to get any news he could. Tony told him what Doctor Rupert had said and that a social worker was speaking with Peter. Phil made a couple of phone calls and assured them all that it would work out and not to worry before he rushed back to check on Natasha. People in the waiting room, either waiting to be helped or waiting for loved ones, came and went. Everyone gave Ash a wide berth. All the while, Bruce was acutely aware of Max, the soldier, sitting at his side. It helped that Max didn’t wear a uniform and Bruce had never seen him in one, but he just couldn’t shake the idea that he was next to a soldier. He didn’t look at Max when they sat together. He wasn’t sure why Max had sat next to him, but the sooner he moved away the better or maybe Bruce would just move away. He could find some excuse to get away politely and not upset anyone and at least put a little space between himself and the soldier...

“I wanted to thank you.”

Bruce blinked, then looked at Max. “Thank me? For what?”

“You’ve been kind to Michael. Played with him.” Max didn’t look at Bruce. “He’s not afraid of you and that helped him to be not afraid of your friends. That means a lot.”

He should be. Michael should be afraid of Bruce if he knew, but he clearly didn’t. He just thought Bruce was a nice person. He didn’t know that the least little thing could set Hulk off. But Michael didn’t know.

“And,” Max continued as he bent over and put his hands over his face. “For being worried about Ash’s eating. Some ‘pop’ I am! I still can’t believe I missed that.” He suddenly turned to Bruce with such a look of anguish on his face that Bruce momentarily forgot his fear of soldiers. In that instant, Max was just Max and worried about his boy. “How could I not notice? I just thought he was naturally thin.”

“Maybe he is. Have you ever met his parents?”

“Not his mother, but I met his dad and his big brother and they were both big, brawny guys. I shoulda known Golzine was doing something about his food.”

“Do you know it was Golzine?”

“I don’t have evidence, if that’s what you mean, but it was him.” Max sat up and looked tired. He looked over at Ash, who’d paused his pacing and stared into a fish tank kept in the hospital’s waiting room, though the distant look in his eyes suggested that he wasn’t really seeing it. “I saw them together this one time. Golzine had all of us kidnapped and taken to his mansion. Ash told you that in his testimony, remember? Well, for some reason Golzine forced us all to dress up in tuxedos and sit at his dinner table where we were served very expensive wine and weird expensive food. It was like he wanted to play pretend that we were his guests. It was like a little kid having a tea party with their dolls. He had Ash all dressed up in clothes I sure as heck couldn’t afford. He’d had a hair stylist do Ash’s hair and had his ear pierced with a stupidly expensive earring. Never asked Ash’s permission, of course. He went on some damned long ramble about how he gave Ash everything, how he taught him everything, like he was trying to convince Ash that he owed him. He was real proud of the fact that he ‘made’ Ash. Yeah. I believe he was controlling what Ash ate. That didn’t even cross my mind at the time, though. I was too worried about all the other stuff Ash’s been through to even think about food. Seems like I keep failing that kid.”

Bruce thought about the kids he’d seen throughout his travels and how many of them had suffered similarly to Ash. Many of them had parents. Parents who’d either exploited them or failed to protect them. “I think a lot of people have failed Ash, but I don’t think you’re one of them.”

“Thanks. Ya know, you don’t have to be scared of me.” Max said it quietly, so no one else would hear. Bruce must have looked surprised (he’d thought he’d been hiding his emotions rather well) because Max grinned at him. “I’ve noticed you avoid me. Don’t apologize,” he quickly said when Bruce opened his mouth to do just that. “It’s not a problem and from what I’ve heard you’ve got good reason to avoid people in uniform.”

“Yes. Well.” Bruce put both hands on his lap and laced his fingers together. “I don’t have good history with the army.”

Max chuckled. “Well, good thing I was never army. I’m a marine.”

“Same thing.”

Max gasped and looked honestly offended. “What?!”

“Well...”

“Marines and army are entirely different kettles of fish, I’ll have you know. I was a marine for several years, then I went through the police academy. After that, I was a photographer and now I’m a journalist.”

“You were a photographer? I’m sort of surprised Ash... well. He dislikes cameras so much I wouldn’t think he’d be able to trust you like he does.”

“I don’t take his picture. Shunichi’s a photographer, too, and Ash knew that right from the first moment they met. But Shunichi doesn’t take Ash’s picture, either. Not without his permission, anyway. He can trust us. Besides, I haven’t touched a camera in ages. You know, I met Jessica when I was a photographer.”

“Oh?” Bruce felt his anxiety about Max starting to ease the longer he spoke to him.

“Yup. I was taking photos for a... er... well... a gentleman’s magazine. You get me? Well, she was one of the models and, let me tell you, she’s just as good-looking now as she was back then. It’s funny. I still don’t know why she married me the first time, let alone why she wants to marry me now. I mean, just look at her. She’s gorgeous, intelligent, a fantastic mother, she’s got the warmest heart of any person I’ve ever met and she chooses to marry me. Isn’t that strange? She could honestly have her pick of the best-looking, richest, most successful men in the whole world and she picked me. Not that I’m going to argue with her.” And he laughed at himself. “I’m going out later to get her a ring. I might not be able to give her a big church wedding or a white gown like she deserves, but I can at least put a ring on her finger.” Max stopped laughing and cast another look over at Ash. “It’s funny. When I first met Ash, I thought he reminded me of Jessica. Don’t tell him - he wouldn’t like to be told he looks like a woman. But it’s almost uncanny how alike they are.”

‘If my father had loved his family as much as Max loves his...’ Bruce pushed the unhelpful thought away. He had to admit that Jessica was very beautiful. In fact, he had noticed a bit of resemblance between her and Natasha and Natasha was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever met.

Time passed slowly. 

While they all waited, Ash couldn’t settled himself until he leaned his back against a wall and stayed there, his expression cold and uninviting. Bruce found himself wondering if yoga might help Ash be able to relax. He certainly needed something and yoga, or maybe meditation, certainly wouldn’t hurt.

“He was telling stories to Hulk,” Phil had told Bruce after Bruce had woken up from Hulk’s little outing. “Kept him calm and docile until help arrived. He really knows how to keep a cool head.”

One wouldn’t think so judging from Ash’s obvious upset.

The whole tense situation was only made worse when Tony happened to look out the window of the waiting room and frowned. “Reporters.”

Ash looked more furious than ever. “What do they want?”

“Well,” Tony told him. “It was bound to make the news. A shoot out, people rushed to the hospital. Sure as anything some of the people down there saw us, so they know The Avengers are involved and that we came here.”

Bruce felt his stomach sink. He pulled his hat down to shade his eyes. He didn’t dare to actually look at the reporters as they gathered outside the hospital and looked in, but just knowing that there were reporters and cameras so close by... he felt his head spin and had to take a deep breath to calm himself. Inside, he felt Hulk rising to awareness and had to force himself to be at ease. It was hard. They were going to put his photo in newspapers and on television and General Ross would see it and see him and he’d know where Bruce was, even though it wasn’t really a mystery because just about everyone on the planet knew that Bruce lived with Tony and it shouldn’t be a problem because Tony had said he’d protect Bruce and J.A.R.V.I.S. would protect him and he was safe, he was safe and General Ross couldn’t do anything, couldn’t take him and couldn’t... and couldn’t.... and couldn’t....

Rambling. He was rambling and on the verge of panicking. Another deep breath with a whispered thought to Hulk, ‘It’s okay. We’re safe. Nothing dangerous. Nothing dangerous.’ He stood up and, deliberately keeping his back to the window, tried to walk as casually as he could to a sheltered spot behind a large potted plant. There was something distinctly terrifying about the idea of being caught on camera and having evidence of where he was shown to the whole world.

Ash lurked nearby. There weren’t many places to hide in the waiting room, but Ash had slunk off to a place near a wall where the plant hiding Bruce was between him and the reporters at the window. He, too, had turned his back on the reporters. “Damned vultures. Haven’t we got enough trouble?”

Bruce agreed, entirely.

Considering how he’d reacted to having a camera pointed at him when he’d given his testimony - and he’d done that willingly - the fact that he was so unhappy with the lurking reporters was really no surprise. 

Ibe-san, whom Bruce liked in the short time he’d known the man because he was generally quiet and peaceful, walked over to Ash. He stood directly in front of Ash, as if to be sure he wouldn’t startle him, then took hold of Ash by both arms. It was a move Bruce suspected would get many people a punch in the mouth, but Ash tolerated it from Ibe-san. “I know this is hard. You hate being the center of attention and having those people out there isn’t helping your temper, but try to bear with it. Peter will be out in a few minutes and as soon as we get word about Natasha we can leave.”

Bruce strongly suspected they wouldn’t be there so long. If he knew Steve, he would get Ash and company back to The Tower as soon as Peter was free to go while Clint and Phil would stay behind for Natasha.

Ash said, “Yeah, but...”

“But nothing. You don’t like,” Ibe-san gestured vaguely to the window where the reporters with their cameras waited. “All this. You don’t like that you can’t go out to a hospital to help a friend without there being people watching your every move. No offense to our new friends, but I think you don’t like having to be protected and having them watching you all the time, but it won’t last forever. Life won’t always be like this. The court date is coming very soon and then it will be over. No reporters, no cameras, no one watching you. You’ll be able to have a normal, ordinary life just like everyone else.”

He was wrong. Bruce knew that, for Ash, it would never be over. Even if he testified and stood in front of the world to tell everything he knew, even if everyone on his list was arrested and put in prison, it would still never be over because if even one of those evil people wanted revenge, his life would always be in danger. They could hire people to go after Ash or they could simply wait until they got out of prison and go after him themselves. It wasn’t just him, either. Anyone close to him would always be in danger. Even if none of that happened, Ash Lynx would be a household name after the whole issue was publicized. His photo would be in newspapers and on the television, no matter what he wanted. Everyone would know his name and what happened to him. If he decided to go to college or try to get a job, all that would be hanging over him. Forever. Ash Lynx could never have a normal life.

‘And Ash knows it. He’s smart enough that he knows he’ll never have what he wants.’

Ibe-san didn’t seem to know it. He spoke and smiled with such genuine certainty that Ash would definitely get to have an ordinary life filled with nothing but joy. 

Ash smiled at Ibe-san. “Thanks, Ibe-san. That means a lot to me.”

Apparently, Ash wasn’t going to be the one to disillusion Ibe-san.

Captain Jenkins arrived and walked through the waiting room without a word to any of them. About fifteen minutes after that, they were all asked to go back to the little waiting room where Peter happily greeted Ash. Doctor Rupert was in the room along with Captain Jenkins, the social worker, and Phil.

Captain Jenkins said, “Peter is a witness in the Club Cod case, just like Ash. His life is in danger.” He gestured to the bandage covering the bullet wound on Peter’s head. “This was done much faster than any of us like to do with this sort of matter, but for Peter’s safety it was felt that it had to be done quickly. We contacted a judge who - after hearing from the social worker, the hospital’s lawyer, Doctor Rupert, and myself - has agreed to have Agent Coulson,” Captain Jenkins gestured to Phil. “Act as Peter’s temporary guardian until the Club Cod case goes to court. That way, Peter and Ash can stay together and everyone is well-guarded. However, after the Club Cod matter is settled, a permanent guardian will be decided. Of course that will have to be more carefully done, with all the proper steps being followed.”

“He’s not testifying!” Ash leaned forward on the sofa and narrowed his eyes. “He doesn’t need to go to court.”

Captain Jenkins sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Ash... we’ll talk about that later.”

Phil was given a paper with a summary of Peter’s visit and Doctor Rupert said to Phil, “He’s in no immediate danger, but, given the environment he spent so long in, I would strongly advise a complete physical with blood work as soon as possible. You can take him home, but make sure that wound on his head is kept clean and I want to see him back here in a few days to check it.”

After that, when the social worker, Doctor Rupert, the lawyer, and Captain Jenkins left, Phil said to Steve, “Take everyone home, please. I need to go back and check on - ”

The door of the waiting room swung open abruptly and Clint, with a broad smile, stepped in. “The nurse told me you were in here. She’s fine! It’s done and she’s going to be fine. Natasha’s already starting to wake up.”

Bruce felt his shoulders relax and the nervous knot in his stomach eased away. He shouldn’t have been surprised. Natasha was uniquely strong in ways most people couldn’t understand. Of course she’d survived.

Tony called Happy to drive them home and, besides Clint and Phil who’d stayed at the hospital for Natasha, they all left the hospital together, by a back exit to keep away from the reporters out front. Happy met them there and everyone went back to The Tower.

At The Tower, some time was spent showing Peter around the areas he would be spending the most time in - the apartment Max’s family used and the common room. Peter said nothing the whole time he was being shown around unless it was to whisper something to Ash. When it was time to eat dinner, Peter would only eat what Ash ate and he seemed dreadfully nervous, as if he were afraid of doing something wrong.

“This is Eiji. He’s my buddy,” Ash introduced Eiji. “You can trust him just like you trust me. He’s a good guy.” He went on to introduce Michael, whom Peter seemed to like, and then Jessica, which was a bit more stressful. Peter put on a big smile and seemed to try very, very hard to look happy even when Ash assured him, “Jessica’s cool. She won’t hurt you.”

Peter didn’t appear to listen to Ash and stayed nervous, but that was helped by Michael.

“I’m going to go read books. Do you want to read?” He held up the book he’d brought with him, The Little Engine That Could.

Peter shifted from foot-to-foot, then looked at Ash. “Papa Dino said I don’t have to read.”

“Yeah, but you can if you want to,” Ash said. “It’s getting late. Maybe I could read you two a bedtime story.”

Michael grinned. “Can we have lots of stories?”

“Yeah, why not?”

Peter twisted his fingers together. “You’re sure it’s allowed?” He looked around at everyone in the room with a smile, but fear clear in his eyes. “No trouble?”

“No trouble,” Ash said. “I promise.”

Max chose that moment to speak up. “Since we’re all doing so well, I thought I should announce that Jessica and I are getting married, again.”

Michael cheered and shouted his happiness.

Peter looked confused.

Ash told Max, “Congrats. Better tie the knot before she gets a clue and makes a run for it.”

It was Jessica who answered with, “Very funny. Max wants to get me a ring and we’ll be gone maybe an hour or so. Tony said he’d go with us, so we’re going to be perfectly safe.” Jessica knelt down in front of Michael and said, “Okay, honey, it’s getting late so daddy and I will see you in the morning. You be good and listen to Ash. He’s in charge.” She kissed him on the forehead before she stood up and looked at Ash. “And you, his bedtime’s at seven. Ash, you listen to Eiji. He’s in charge.”

Eiji started to snicker when Ash squawked, “What?”

“He’s very responsible, so he’s in charge. Be good and try not to worry.” And then, apparently without thinking, she leaned forward and kissed Ash on the forehead, just as she’d done to Michael. The moment she stepped away from him, she froze.

Everyone in the room seemed to hold their breaths.

Ash looked like someone had hit him between the eyes with a brick.

“Oh,” Jessica put a hand to her mouth, regret clearly written across her face. “I’m sorry...”

But Ash took Michael and Peter’s hands and they started to walk away. “Come on, you two. Let’s read tonight. You can each pick a book.” At the door of the common room, Ash stopped and turned around to face Max and Jessica. He ruffled Michael’s hair. “Say ‘bye’ to ma and pops, kid.”

Michael waved happily. “Bye, daddy! Bye, mommy!”

“Yeah,” Ash said. “Bye, pops. Bye, ma. See you when you get back.”

Michael and Peter both followed Ash out of the room like a couple of puppies who knew they were getting a treat.

“I wasn’t thinking!" Jessica looked at Max. "I didn’t mean it!”

Max gently touched her cheek with his fingers. “Are you sure you didn’t mean it?”

Jessica blinked and then smiled. “No. I did mean it.”

They hugged and it seemed that - in just that moment - all was right in the world.

To Be Continued...


	36. Alarm

Chapter 36: Alarm 

Jasper Sitwell -

After Sitwell had reported to Fury about Thema Shehata and had seen the delivery of her body to the correct authorities within S.H.I.E.L.D., he left for the day. All day he’d been pondering on what to do about his new mission to retrieve the Banana Fish and Blanca. He had a plan in mind for Ash, but that could wait a bit. He drove only a short distance from S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters until he reached the police station. Before he went in, he made a phone call and offered a generous bribe to a certain official to get what he wanted. 

Inside the police station he ignored the general noise and rushing about that was to be expected in such a place and was met by young officer in uniform. 

“Mister Haversham?” He reached out and shook Sitwell’s hand with a friendly smile. “The commissioner told me to expect you. Your clients are ready and waiting for you. Please, follow me.”

He walked down the hall of the busy police station, trailing behind the young officer as if he couldn’t find his way on his own. Dressed in a cheap suit and tie, he looked like any other low-price lawyer and no one spared him even a second glance. He did see the detective in charge of the Club Cod case - Captain Jenkins, who had put Golzine’s employees of Club Cod behind bars, who was currently very busy arresting suspects and other assorted tasks that needed to be done in relation to Ash Lynx.

“They’re waiting for you in interview room four. Do you need anything before you go in?”

“No, but thank you. Now, I presume we will have privacy in there. No cameras? No audio recording?”

The young officer actually looked offended. “Of course not, sir! We take attorney / client privilege very seriously. You’ll have all the privacy you need.”

“Thank you.” But, just in case, he had a small device in his briefcase that could create enough interference to prevent their conversation from being recorded. It was a new device, not on par with anything Stark could have come up with, but it was effective enough to deal with any of the primitive technology that the NYPD would be using.

At the interview room, he thanked the officer, again, before he opened the door. There, all sitting at the single table in the room, were the four people who’d been arrested at the Club Cod restaurant when the whole scandal had broken. They were all chained to the table. Three men and one woman, all of them as plain and ordinary as any law-abiding citizen walking the streets. They might have been accountants or preschool teachers for how threatening they looked. They all leaned in close to one another as they muttered between themselves. The minute Sitwell walked in, they stopped and collectively turned to glare at him. 

Sitwell ignored the glare. He certainly didn’t care about their opinion of him. “Good afternoon. I need a few questions answered and you four are going to do that for me.”

One of the men, an older man with salt-and-pepper hair, sat up a little straighter. “Who are you? One of the cops said our lawyer wanted to talk to us, but I’ve never seen you before.” The other three agreed with him. “What’s this about? If you’re after details about Mister Golzine, then you’re outta luck. We’re not talking.”

“I don’t need to know about Golzine. His whole life is found on his computers and in the memory of the witness he left behind.” Sitwell sat at the table opposite of the prisoners. “I need to know about Gregory Dufort.”

The four exchanged looks that had very suddenly changed from suspicious to worried. The only woman there, a young woman with dark hair and eyes, said, “You didn’t answer the question. Who are you?”

“I am someone who can keep you four alive until you get out of prison. That’s all you need to know. I want information. There is very little that I can discover about him with basic research, so I need to ask people who knew him personally. Luckily for me, you four are readily available and, considering that you worked in Club Cod, I will presume that you have had dealings with Gregory Dufort.” He smiled. “I want you to tell me everything you can about Gregory. He has something I want and I need to know where he is so I can get it.”

The four people, again, looked at each other. The worried look they all shared was curious. One of the men said, “We’re not saying a thing about Gregory or anything else.”

“You’re sure about that? It’s not as if he’s been working hard to get you some bail money, now is it? There’s no reason to show him any sort of loyalty and Golzine is dead, so you don’t have to be afraid of him if you speak. Really, there’s no reason at all for you to stay silent and every reason for you to tell me what I want to know.”

The first man who’d spoken to Sitwell shook his head. “I won’t talk. I worked for Mister Golzine for a long while and Gregory was there every step of the way, every minute of the day. He was Dino’s lap dog and attack dog. But you could tell - he was nuts. Without Mister Golzine to control him, he’s liable to do anything. If he thinks we’re working against him, he’ll kill us.”

“Would it make you feel better to know that I’m planning to kill him myself? I’m very good at it and I can make sure he’s dead long before you four ever leave the safety of the police protection you’re currently enjoying.” That was entirely correct as they were all likely to be locked up for years to come, but there was no need to mention that. Why muddy the situation with facts? “Gregory won’t kill you. I, however, can make it very worth your while to speak to me. I said I can protect you in prison and I can. I can easily arrange to keep the four of you out of the general population at the prison which means you’ll stay alive a little while longer. You do know what the rumors are, don’t you? The rumors about what happens to child molesters in prison?”

One of the men, one who hadn’t spoke up until that point, shot upright in his seat. “Hey! I didn’t do anything. I never touched those kids. All I did was cook. I was a chef in the restaurant. I only came in early the day the police came because I had to get an early start on my work.”

“But you knew what was happening to those kids and you didn’t do anything to stop it, did you? Besides, do you really think anyone is going to believe you? Do you think Big Bub Jones, your future cell mate, who has three little kids and a younger brother waiting for him on the outside, is going to believe anything you say? No. He’ll be thinking about them and what you’d want to do to them when he sees you. They’ll all know who you are; your faces were on the television and the internet for all to see. But I can protect you on the inside. All you need to do is tell me about Gregory. Where is he? He has been running all over the city for days, hiding from the people chasing him. So, if he were to run out of options, if he were absolutely desperate and in need of safety, where would he go?”

It was the third man, a young man who hadn’t spoken up until that point, who seemed to visibly gather his courage before he said. “He’d go back to Mister Golzine’s place.”

“You’re sure?”

The first man said, “Yeah. He’d go there.” He let out a long sigh. “I’ll talk, but you keep your word. I don’t want to die in prison. Gregory was always with Mister Golzine, always willing and able to do exactly what Mister Golzine asked him to do at a moment’s notice. He never argued, never questioned. I’ve worked for Mister Golzine for years and Gregory was there a lot longer than I was.” He leaned closer, as much as he was able to, and lowered his voice, as if he were afraid of being overheard. “There were rumors... people said things... said Gregory really was there from the beginning, that he was one of Mister Golzine’s first acquisitions. If you get my meaning. And he lived with Mister Golzine. All these years, he’s lived with Mister Golzine and there was never any sign of him trying to get away. If you asked him where his home was, he’d tell you it was Mister Gozline’s house.”

“And what if he needed to hide something? If Golzine gave him something valuable, something that he absolutely couldn’t risk being lost or stolen and he told Gregory to hide it, where would Gregory put it?”

The four looked puzzled and each one of them shook their heads. The woman said, “We weren’t close enough to Golzine to know anything like that. What sort of thing do you think he has?”

Sitwell ignored the question. “And what about Ash Lynx. What can you tell me about him?”

“He was popular, when he was at Club Cod.” One of the men snorted, almost laughing. “Always in high demand. Mister Golzine began to charge so much for him that Ash alone could bring in thousands of dollars every night and there was always someone with enough money to pay for him. He went to live in Mister Golzine’s house after about a year at Club Cod. I don’t know much else. Mister Golzine was very possessive and kept Ash close.”

If Gregory was as loyal to Golzine as these people thought he was, then it only reinforced Sitwell’s opinion that Gregory’s most likely target was Ash. “Can you tell me what Gregory thought of Ash?”

“Hated him,” the woman answered simply and without hesitation. “He really, really hated Ash. He didn’t make much secret of it, actually. I think Mister Golzine knew and it amused him. I saw Gregory and Ash together a time or two and Gregory would glare at Ash. The kid had a mouth on him, he’d always know what button to push to make someone angry, always had some smart reply to anything anyone ever said. He could make people angry with just a smirk or a roll of his eyes. The way Gregory looked at him, though - that was real hate.”

“Would Gregory try to kill Ash?”

She snorted. “Yeah. Yeah, he’d try the minute he got an excuse and he’d probably enjoy doing it.” 

At Dino Golzine’s Mansion-  
Gregory-

After he left the scene of Thema Shehata’s botched assassination attempt, Gregory went home.

He was tired and he needed to rest, he needed somewhere safe. So he went home. Home to Papa’s mansion.

The mansion was silent at night. There were no lights, no heavy footsteps of patrolling soldiers. Gregory had never seen the mansion so still, as if it were frozen in an instant of time. It wasn’t Papa’s main home - Ash had managed to all but destroy that one - but Gregory had spent enough time in this one to call it home. He walked through the familiar halls, comfortable enough with only the moonlight shining in through the windows that he didn’t even consider turning on the lights and risk attracting attention. The house was meant to be closed up, secured by the police as part of their investigations about Club Cod. But it had been days since all of that had begun and Gregory felt safe enough to use it as his current hiding place.

He stopped walking at the door of Papa’s rooms. He’d spent much time in those rooms. Carefully, he opened the door and peered in. The place was a mess, undoubtedly the police had done it as they’d searched for anything they could use against Papa. Papa would have been furious to see his rooms so untidy. Despite the mess, it was comforting. He leaned into the room a little and breathed in deeply through his nose. The room still smelled of Papa’s favorite cologne. With regret, Gregory closed the door. He wasn’t allowed to go in without Papa’s permission.

On he went.

Gregory was tired. More than tired, he was exhausted. He felt like he hadn’t slept in days. He needed to sleep, but everywhere he’d gone had felt too exposed. Only in Papa’s mansion did he really feel safe. And why shouldn’t he? He WAS safe. Papa always took care of him.

He passed Ash’s room without stopping to look as he knew very well that Ash had the second finest room in the mansion, second only to Papa’s. Papa had seen to it personally. He’d chosen every piece of furniture, every piece of art, the chandelier, the curtains, everything. No expense had been spared to give Ash the room of a prince and it showed how very much Papa had valued Ash.

“And you repaid him by betraying him.” He muttered the words to himself. “You killed him. Everything he did for you and you killed him. Gave you everything. He loved you. Ungrateful little monster...”

Eventually, Gregory came to his room, the room he always used when they stayed in that mansion. It, too, had been gone over by the police. That couldn’t be stood. He spent an hour straightening it up - Papa didn’t like a mess. When he finished, he put the tranquilizer gun under the bed before he lay down and put his head on the feather pillow. It was almost surprising how little altered it was from the last time he’d been in there, back when Papa Dino had been alive and in command. Back when all he needed to be at home was to be near Papa.

It may not have been the best room in the mansion, but Gregory had been given a very comfortable room. Like Ash’s room, his room had also been done entirely by Papa. The bed was large with a good, firm mattress and several goose down pillows. It was all new. Papa had bought it for Gregory only a few months earlier. Papa always took care of Gregory. Always. The whole room was nearly as nice as Papa’s. There was hand-painted wallpaper from Italy and silk carpets on the floor. There was fine art hung on the walls and a desk and chair made by an excellent craftsmen. On one wall there was an entertainment center with a large television hung on the wall and state-of-the-art speakers to ensure perfect audio. Papa had bought it all.

Even after Marvin had sold Ash to Papa, Gregory hadn’t been forgotten. Replaced, but not forgotten.

With those thoughts in his mind - bitter, old thoughts of how he’d had to grow up and step out of the way for someone new to take Papa’s favor - he finally fell asleep and into a dream, a memory, of that day, only a few years ago.

Dream-

It had been a sunny spring day, warm but not hot. The sky was blue and clear. Gregory had long since outgrown Papa’s tastes - he was thirty and far too old for Papa to be interested in, but he still took care of Gregory. Still gave him a home and food and purpose. He was thankful everyday that Papa didn’t turn him away, so very grateful to be allowed to serve him and stay near him.

They just walked out the front door, on the way to a business meeting in New York City, when Marvin drove in and parked in the wide-circular driveway in front of Papa’s mansion. Marvin was a despicable person. Foul in every sense of the word. Gregory held himself stiffly where he stood behind Papa, barely able to contain his contempt for Marvin. He’d never liked the pig. Marvin was an arrogant, ham-fisted lout. He was useful, in some ways, so Papa kept him around, but he was low and crude, always stinking of cigarettes and beer. Even as he walked up to Papa Dino - as if they were equals! - he had a stain on his shirt and his tie was loose. Such a gross man.

“Afternoon, Papa Dino,” Marvin was smirking when he stopped at the foot of the stairs that led up to Papa’s mansion. He looked entirely too pleased with himself.

“Marvin.” Papa, of course knew he was far above Marvin in all ways and it showed in the way he spoke and held himself - proud and aloof. Papa looked down at Marvin and tapped his walking stick on the stone step he stood on. “I expect you have a reason for delaying my trip to the city?”

“I think you’ll like my reason.” Marvin didn’t stop smirking, even in the face of Papa’s clear disapproval. “I found a pretty little goldfinch.”

“My little aviary is full. I don’t need your goldfinch.”

“You won’t want to let this one fly away.” He went back to his car and opened the backseat door. “What?!” It was empty. Marvin looked around and there, just sprinting around the corner of the mansion, a little blur went running away. Marvin let out a swear and gave chase. To see Marvin run was not a pretty sight. A moment later, there was a crash, as if something had fallen, and a little high-pitched cry. Then Marvin, looking even more worse-for-wear than normal, limped back into view, dragging a little child by the collar. “He’s a slippery little thing, Papa Dino.”

The boy was small and dirty. His hair was a thick, unkempt blonde mop on his head. His clothes were hardly more than rags and ill-fitting rags at that. The toes of his shoes had bust open, showing his bare toes. He struggled against Marvin and even though it was clearly hopeless, he strained to keep as much distance between himself and Marvin as possible.

Papa smiled at Ash. “Just look at you. A little prince in rags.”

Marvin gave the boy a shake. “This is Ash. Found him just a few days ago, routing around in a dumpster for some food. Just look at his eyes.” He gave the boy, Ash, another shake.

“Gently now.” Papa Dino went down the steps and stopped in front of Marvin, but his eyes were entirely on the boy.

Gregory knew that look. Papa was always so intrigued when new kids were brought to him. He always spoke softly, at first, as if to tame a frighten beast.

“Well,” Papa Dino leaned over a little and took Ash’s chin with his hand. “Let’s get a good look at you, little one.” He tilted Ash’s face upward and smiled at him. “Poor dear. Just look at that eye.” He ran a gentle thumb over the boy’s bruised and swollen eye. Marvin had most likely given him that shiner. “I think you’ll clean up nicely.” He moved his thumb to touch the dried, crusted blood on Ash’s swollen bottom lip. “Yes... very nicely. How old are you?”

All at once, like a light being turn off, the fight went straight out of Ash. His lip wobbled and his eyes turned shiny, as if he were on the verge of tears. “I’m eleven, mister. Please, mister. Don’t let ‘im hurt me.” He spoke in a lazy way, slurring his words this way and that. He reached up and put one little hand on Papa’s sleeve. “Please... I wanna go home. Lemme go home, mister.”

And then Gregory saw something in Papa’s eyes and he felt a stirring of something dark and ugly in his gut. Papa used to look at HIM like that. There was possessiveness in Papa’s eyes, want and hunger. He had seen what Gregory had seen in Ash, that swift change of temper - from an angry, fighting animal to a teary-eyed innocent trying to make Papa think that he was a harmless little mite. The boy was clever and clever had the potential to grow into dangerous. But Papa didn’t flinch at the danger inherent in a clever little animal trying to escape. He wanted it. He ran a hand through the boy’s fair hair, looked in his ears and then had him open his mouth so he could look at Ash’s teeth. 

“How much do you want for him?”

Marvin named a price, the smirk of knowing he’d gotten exactly what he wanted bright on his face. 

“And is he untouched?”

The smirk faded. “Ah... no.”

With a chuckle, Papa said, “I should have known you wouldn’t be able to keep your hands to yourself. A pity. I would have paid twice if you hadn’t touched him.” No, he probably wouldn’t have, Gregory knew. But the look of disappointment on Marvin’s face was worth the lie. “Still, I’ll pay what you ask. He’s entirely worth it.” Papa put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Gregory, see that Marvin is paid and then cancel my meeting. I have more important things to do.” His hand tightened on Ash’s arm and he guided Ash into the mansion. Gregory saw the exact moment when hope died in Ash’s eyes. But then the wild animal came back and he pulled against Papa’s hand to get away. He even bit Papa’s hand in an effort to escape, but Papa, accustomed to wild beasts, merely reached over and slapped Ash across the face. Ash was so small that he would have been knocked right off his feet if Papa hadn’t kept a firm grip on him. “I’m going to take my time training you.”

Gregory hated Ash.

End Dream - 

Gregory woke very quickly, as if he were trying to push himself away from those memories.

Papa had kept Ash. He’d put him in Club Cod for a time, but he’d grown more and more obsessed as the days went by. Ash became his pride, treasure. He’d dressed Ash up like a doll, fed him the finest of foods. Hired tutors for him and, every night, took Ash to his bed.

Gregory knew that he had been replaced. It had been inevitable, really. He had been too old for Papa’s tastes for years, but Ash was young and had cleaned up just as well as Papa had said he would. Gregory hated it. Hated not being the favorite, but the worst of it was that it seemed Ash’s place as ‘favorite’ would be a lasting place. Papa usually got tired of his boys, but he didn’t tire of Ash and the more Ash fought against him, the more he argued and made himself difficult, the more Papa liked him. The more Papa loved him.

Gregory opened his eyes and stared up at the dark ceiling of his room and it burned at him that Ash had betrayed Papa in such a way. After everything Papa had done for him, all the time and attention that had been lavished on Ash, attention that Gregory would have loved to have focused on him, that Ash had betrayed Papa, killed him.

There was a man standing in the doorway of the room.

Gregory asked, “Who are you?”

“My name’s Jasper.” He leaned against the door jam of Gregory’s room. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m here for information. No.” He said it calmly the minute Gregory started to reach for the gun under his coat. “Let’s not do anything rash, Mister Dufort.” He held open his jacket so Gregory could see the holstered gun under it. “You’re not the only one armed, so let’s keep civilized.”

“You know me?”

Jasper pulled out his cell phone and pressed a button before he showed the phone’s screen to Gregory. The image on the phone was one that had been in the newspapers - Papa, in his fine tuxedo, walking into the opera house with Ash at his side and several bodyguards surrounding them. In front of the whole group, Gregory walked, as was his place as Papa’s personal bodyguard. “It wasn’t too hard to find this photograph and, from there, I learned about you and how very important you were to Mister Golzine. A lot of people are looking for you, Mister Dufort.”

“And how did you find me?”

“I had a word with some people. They seemed pretty certain that if you needed a shelter, you’d eventually come here. I suppose you would have gone to Golzine’s main mansion if... you know... Ash Lynx hadn’t destroyed it. Let me guess - you thought this was the last place anyone would look for you because it’s too obvious.”

Gregory would admit to no such thing, even if it was the truth. “And what information do you need from me?” He looked at the phone Jasper still held. “The boy? Were you one of Mister Golzine’s customers at Club Cod and now you’re worried about what the boy will say? You’re looking in the wrong place. He’s not with me.”

“I’m not looking for Ash, if he’s the boy you’re talking about. Actually, I need to contact Blanca.”

Interesting. Certainly not what Gregory had been expecting. 

“I would like to hire Blanca for a little work I need done, but it seems he’s become rather hard to locate, recently. As he’s been seen in the company of Golzine,” he tapped another button on his phone and the picture on it changed to a photograph of the night of Papa’s party, the one he’d thrown to celebrate his victory in the tax evasion matter. Again, he was there with Ash, wheelchair bound and temporarily blinded, while other rich and powerful people surrounded Papa and congratulated him on his triumph. In the background, as clear as anything, stood Blanca - literally head and shoulders above the crowd. “I would like any and all information you have on Blanca. Why you told Thema Shehata to kill him would be a very good place to start. I would also like to know how to contact him as all his previous methods of contact seem to have been disabled several years ago.”

As he’d mentioned Thema Shehata, Gregory suspected that Jasper wanted the Banana Fish, too, but he focused on the idea that this man wanted to contact Blanca. He didn’t know why and really didn’t care, but if this stranger could keep Blanca distracted for a little while then it would make Gregory’s task of killing Ash all the easier. “Sure. I know Blanca.” He slowly sat up and then reached over and turned on the lamp sitting on the bedside table. “Mister Golzine hired Blanca to do some work for him a few years ago. Another job came up recently and he hired Blanca, again. You can’t contact him at the moment, because he retired. I want him dead because he’s making my job harder.”

“And that job being that you want to kill Ash Lynx. Right?” He chuckled. “Oh, don’t look so surprised. As I said, I did a little research. You hate Ash and want him dead and Blanca is making that harder. Why would someone like Blanca be protecting Ash Lynx?”

“Because Ash Lynx was Blanca’s student. Mister Golzine hired Blanca to teach Ash to shoot and fight and everything else. Blanca doted on Ash, always looked out for him, always protected him - like a wolf with its cub. Blanca completed his contract with Mister Golzine several weeks ago. The last I’d heard, he had entered into a contract with Lee Yut-Lung, of the Lee Clan in Chinatown. He was to be working as a bodyguard.”

“I see. Thank you.” Jasper stepped into the room. “And now, I’d like you to give me the Banana Fish.”

There was a long silence as the two stared at each other.

Gregory said, “I was wondering how long it would take you to get to that. Did Shehata tell you I have it? No, never mind. That doesn’t mater, either. So, why would I give you the Banana Fish?”

“Because if you don’t give it to me, I’ll make you suffer.”

Gregory laughed. He couldn’t help himself. “Shehata wanted the Banana Fish, too. I’ll make the same deal with you that I made with her. You kill Blanca and bring me evidence of it and I’ll give you the Banana Fish.”

“Oh, I don’t think so. Blanca’s far too valuable to just throw him away. No, I’m not making any deals. You will give me the Banana Fish.”

“You think you can torture me? She thought so, too. It won’t work. I’ll take the information to my grave before I’ll just hand it over. At least I’ll die knowing I made you unhappy.”

“Torture?” Jasper chuckled. “No. I don’t do that sort of thing. It’s messy and completely unnecessary. No, if you don’t give me the Banana Fish, I’ll do something that will hurt you so much more than mere physical torture. I’ll do something to cause you such pain that you’ll never recover from it - if I’m reading your character and history correctly. You’re going to give me the Banana Fish, or I’m going to kill Ash Lynx.”

There was a cold spot in Gregory’s chest, a dead little spot that seemed to catch fire at the idea of someone else killing Ash.

“You see, I know where he is and I have access to him at any time I wish. It would be no trouble at all to just walk up to him and,” he used his hand, index finger extended and thumb raised, to imitate a gun. “Pop! Right in the back of the head. Of course, if I don’t want to get myself into trouble, I could arrange a little accident. It wouldn’t be hard. I do that sort of thing all the time. So, you give me the Banana Fish or I’ll make it so you can never kill Ash Lynx.”

And that dead, burning spot in Gregory’s chest burst into an eruption. He didn’t grab his gun, didn’t reach for any weapon at all and didn’t care what weapon Jasper might have on him. In a lightening fast move, he was off the bed and tackled Jasper to the ground. They struggle there for a time, Jasper proving to be stronger than he looked. 

Papa wanted to kill Ash.

How often had Gregory heard him say it? “Bring him to me alive. I’ll be the one to kill him.” Or “I created him and only I can destroy him.” Or “If anyone will kill him, it will be me. I won’t forgive anyone who takes him from me.”

Gregory wouldn’t forgive either. He wouldn’t. Only Papa was allowed to kill Ash, only Papa because that was what he’d said. But Papa was dead and there was only Gregory left who cared about honoring Papa’s wishes. So he would kill Ash for Papa. He would do it because Papa wasn’t there to take care of it himself and he would make sure that Papa found peace in the afterlife because his killer had died and because no one else would ever be allowed to kill Ash. Gregory would be Papa’s hands and act at Papa’s will - just as he’d always done.

One swift turn and Gregory rolled Jasper onto his back. He sat on Jasper and aimed a hard punch to the face, but Jasper was fast and moved just in time to avoid the blow. He punched Gregory in the gut and it was a strong enough blow to leave him gasping for air. That was the only chance Jasper needed. He took Gregory by the collar and rolled suddenly enough to throw Gregory off him. Then Jasper was up and on his feet, his gun in hand.

“You stay right where you are,” Jasper ordered. There was blood leaking from the corner of his mouth, so Gregory couldn’t be entirely disappointed with the result of the fight. “I tell you - ”

From where he lay on the floor, Gregory grabbed the leg of the desk’s chair and whipped it at Jasper. He missed and the chair broke apart when it hit the wall, sending shards of broken wood everywhere. A piece of wood caught Jasper on the arm, but not hard enough to make him drop the gun. No matter. Gregory certainly wasn’t afraid of getting shot. He surged to his feet the minute Jasper flinched from the broken pieces of chair flying at him.

Sitwell-

Sitwell had one rather large disadvantage that Gregory Dufort didn’t suffer from. He needed Gregory alive long enough to get his hands on the Banana Fish. Gregory didn’t need Sitwell alive.

He fought like an animal, all fury and no thought. He didn’t so much as glance at the gun Sitwell held. His bluff about killing Ash Lynx had been meant to convince Gregory to tell what he knew. He hadn’t expected that Gregory’s devotion to Golzine had been so rabid. That underestimation had been a mistake, but he couldn’t dwell on it. He needed to chose - stay and fight or run. The way Gregory fought, Sitwell believed he wouldn’t stop unless Sitwell shot him and he couldn’t risk that.

“Will you listen?!” Sitwell jumped backwards, out of the room when Gregory charged him and moved backwards down the hall to keep out of reach. “We can come to an agreement. We both want something and - ” 

Gregory grabbed a sconce on the wall and yanked, ripping it down. The electrical wires that fed it power came out of the wall and hung from the sconce like long, skinny tails. He hurled the sconce at Sitwell as if it were a stone.

There was no reasoning with him.

Gregory grabbed a vase that had been on display on a tiny table in the hall and threw it at Sitwell. It crashed on the carpet when Sitwell dodged out of the way, shattering into a multitude of tiny shards. Gregory charged and Sitwell ran and, every step of the way, he heard Gregory thundering behind him.

Sitwell was nearly at the front door, almost within reach, when he suddenly spun around. He charged Gregory. If Gregory was surprised at all, he didn’t show it. He just kept moving. And when Sitwell raised up his gun and slammed it down hard on Gregory’s head, hard enough to make an ominous ‘thunk’, Gregory finally went down.

For a moment, there was no sound but that of heavy panting for breath by both Sitwell and Gregory. Sitwell took off his necktie and used it to tied Gregory’s hands together. He had just finished the knot when Gregory sprang back to life.

He reached up, his hands still securely tied together, and wrapped his hands around Sitwell’s throat. He started squeezing and it took entirely too long for Sitwell to pry himself free. He was left gasping for air when Gregory finally let go. Gregory’s eyes were wide and crazed. He swung both fists and hit Sitwell on the side of the head, knocking him over and giving Gregory plenty of time to pull out his gun and aim. He took three shots, Sitwell only just managing to dodge out of the way each time, before he got awkwardly to his feet.

Sitwell lashed out a hard kick and kicked the gun right out of Gregory’s hand. It hit the floor with a loud clatter and slid away. “Calm down! You’re not going to win.” But even as he said it, he regretted how he’d handled Gregory. He’d been too confidant and underestimated him. 

Gregory grinned, then turned and ran. He only went about fifteen feet down the hall before he slipped into a room, Sitwell right behind him.

The room was large with two chairs set up in front of a table with several monitors on it. Gregory was still grinning when Sitwell went into the room. The two of them faced each other. Gregory took one step to the left, until he was standing right at the table with the monitors on it. “This is the guard room. From here, the guards can watch the whole estate. And this,” he raised a hand and hovered it over an orange button on the table. “Is the alarm button.” He started to laugh just when he dropped his hand heavily down on the button.

Instantly, every light in the house flashed on and a loud, blaring siren roared to life.

“The neighbors are sure to report this to the police, don’t you think? Let’s see how long it will take them to get here.”

With little choice left to him and no time to think of a new path for his plan, Sitwell ran.

Gregory-

Gregory watched as Jasper’s car sped away. That was it. He’d run out of time. If there was any chance at all of someone else killing Ash, then Gregory needed to act - NOW. He would not, for any reason, allow anyone else to kill Ash. He went back to his room and took the tranquilizer gun from where he’d put it under his bed. He double checked to make sure it was still loaded with that last, precious dose of the Banana Fish, before he left Papa’s mansion. He had to finish the job, had to do what Papa would have surely wanted.

To Be Continued...


	37. Stars

Chapter 37: Stars

The Avengers’ Tower-  
Eiji-

When Ash and everyone had gone out to look for Ash’s friend, Peter, Eiji had stayed behind. No one had ordered him to - he was an adult and could make his own decisions - but Ash had looked at him and Eiji understood. He could see it in Ash’s eyes, the ‘I’m sorry, I don’t want to hurt you, but I’m gonna do it anyway. I can’t be distracted, now.’

So, Eiji stayed behind.

He hated waiting.

Wait, wait, wait... that was all he ever seemed to do. Wait for Ash to go out and do... whatever it was that he needed to do before he came back. Or didn’t come back. Sometimes, he didn’t come back for days. Sometimes he took his gun with a look on his face as grave as a cemetery and came back fighting mad. Sometimes, he went out dressed in a suit and tie and his wire-rim reading glasses and came back quiet and tired and didn’t want to be touched or talked to or anything other than go to sleep. Sometimes, he came back with bagels. Sometimes, he came back with bullet holes and bloody clothes.

Eiji hated waiting.

But he did it. He waited because Ash had wanted him to - needed him to - and Eiji respected Ash like no one else he’d ever met. This time, there was no enemy to kill, no information to lure out of some slime-ball. Ash needed to find Peter and Eiji had seen that look in Ash’s eyes before - whenever someone needed to be protected, when he felt responsible for something bad that had happened, whether it was his fault or not. Ash would find Peter - Eiji didn’t doubt that for an instant - but he wouldn’t want any distractions and, to be perfectly honest with himself, Eiji was a distraction.

‘I almost got him killed at Coney Island. Stupid. Yelling like that. Stupid.’

It was those ugly thoughts in his head that had led him to the gym in the Avengers’ Tower.

“You’ll take it easy,” Ibe-san had warned, when Eiji had said he needed to exercise. Then he’d given a little sigh. “You know Ash didn’t leave you behind to hurt you.”

“I know.” And he did. He didn’t blame Ash for anything, not a thing. “It’s not about Ash, not really. I need to clear my head.”

So Eiji, with Ibe-san trailing behind, had gone to the gym and started a fast walk on the treadmill. It was hardly anything compared to what he’d used to do when he’d been competing, but at that moment, it felt dreadfully exhausting and it didn’t do much to clear his mind.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Eiji looked over at Ibe-san. He sat at a little table near the door, reading his newspaper. “If Ash doesn’t find his friend... or if his friend is hurt or... worse. It will hurt Ash very much.” And Eiji was starting to worry that Ash was getting hurt too much. There was only so much straw a camel could carry before its’ back broke, after all. “He will blame himself.” Eiji turned the treadmill’s speed up another notch. “He always blames himself.”

“Sounds like another young man I know.”

Eiji frowned. “I don’t do that!”

“Of course not.” Ibe-san looked back down at his newspaper and Eiji pouted when he saw how Ibe-san was trying not to laugh.

There was little else to do while he waited. He waited and walked and tried to let his thoughts fall into the easy rhythm of walking but Ash was out there and so was Gregory and Gregory was dangerous. Just the thought of Gregory made a chill run down Eiji’s spine. In all his life, he had never been so afraid of anyone, not even Golzine. He hadn’t even been so afraid the last time he’d pole vaulted and the pole had snapped in half when Eiji had been nearly twenty feet in the air and had taken such a bad fall that it had ended his competitive jumping.

And then he was thinking about the sound of the pole snapping, falling just before his ankle snapped. And the pole snapped. Falling. 

Pain.

Falling.

“Eiji, Ibe-san,” J.A.R.V.I.S.’ voice thankfully pulled Eiji out of that awful loop of hurtful thoughts, the cycle of the worst moment of his life that he thought he’d moved passed after all the chaos in America had begun. “Ash and the others have returned if you would like to see them.”

Ibe-san stood up eagerly. “Thank you. I’ll go tell Jessica. Ei-chan, let’s go.”

“You go ahead, Ibe-san. I’ll follow. I don’t want to slow you down.” And when Ibe-san hesitated, Eiji promised, “I’ll go slow and use the cane and J.A.R.V.I.S. can tell you if I fall, right?”

“Certainly,” J.A.R.V.I.S. agreed. “There is no reason to worry. I am watching.”

So Ibe-san reluctantly hurried ahead to let Jessica and Michael know that all was well while Eiji walked through the long halls of The Tower, leaning on his cane.

J.A.R.V.I.S. said, softly, “Eiji, are you feeling well? You are moving slower than normal. If that work out was too much, I will ask Doctor Banner to have a look at you.”

“I’m fine. I’m just feeling slow right now. Say, is Ash alright? Is he hurt? You said they’re coming from a hospital.”

“Ash appears to be uninjured.” And then he took time to tell Eiji why Ash had gone to the hospital, that Peter and Natasha had both been injured, though Natasha’s injury was by far the more serious. “Ash isn’t hurt at all. I promise.”

“Thank you. I worry about him. He’s always getting hurt and sometimes he ignores it. He protects me, but he always gets hurt and acts like it doesn’t matter... sorry. I talk too much.”

***

Later, after Ash had returned to The Tower, after Max and Jessica had gone out to buy wedding rings and Ash had casually called them ‘pops’ and ‘ma’, Ash had led them - Eiji, Peter, and Michael - back to Max’s apartment in the Avengers’ Tower.

Ash sat on the floor in front of the couch and Eiji sat cross-legged on the couch behind Ash. Peter sat on Ash’s right side, leaned up against him, while Michael sat on Ash’s lap. Eiji looked down at the three of them while the sound of Ash’s reading filled the room. Ash’s long legs were stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles. He read slowly and ran his fingers along the words in the book Michael had given him while he went. He paused at each page to give Peter and Michael time to admire the artwork in the book.

While Ash read and the other two listened in rapt attention, Eiji took time to study Peter. He was so radically different from Ash. He was soft, for lack of a better word, and timid. He said very little and seemed most at ease next to Ash. Eiji had the strongest urge to give Peter a hug to chase away his fear, but, given what he knew, he wasn’t entirely certain that was a good idea.

Michael leaned against Ash and yawned. “It’s bedtime, Ash.” He pointed to a clock on the wall. “Seven o’clock. Mommy said it’s bedtime.” He yawned, again.

“Sure, kid. It’s been a long day, hasn’t it?” Ash gave the book to Peter. “You can keep looking at the pictures. I’ll be right back.” And he picked up Michael and carried him into his bedroom. 

While Ash was gone, Peter sat still and quiet. He didn’t open the book or even speak. He just sat there with his head a little lowered. For the first time in his life, Eiji felt what it was like to have someone be afraid of him. He didn’t like it.

“Peter,”

Peter looked up at once, smiling - that awful, fake smile. “Yes?”

“Did you like the book? Ash reads very well.”

“Yes. It was nice.” He ran a hand over the colorful cartoon on the front cover, a blue train puffing out white smoke from its’ smoke stack. “I like books.” Peter stared at the book, something sad and soft in his eyes. “Sometimes... sometimes Papa Dino’s customers liked to pretend I’m little. Very little. And sometimes they let me play with toys and books before they... they...” he swallowed hard and put the book on the floor. He pushed it away. “They never read me stories, not like Ash does.”

Eiji slipped off the couch and sat next to Peter. “I’m sorry people weren’t nice to you before. I’m sure that won’t happen, again. I think Ash will give you as many books as you want.”

“Sure will.” Ash returned then and sat on Peter’s other side. “Books and toys and everything else to make you happy.”

“Yeah?” Peter picked up the picture book, again. “Can I go back to the pretty garden?”

“A garden?” Ash spared a glance at Eiji, but he was just as puzzled. “What garden?”

“My friend has a garden at his house. Mister Lee Yut-Lung has a garden with birds and flowers and lots and lots of color.” He smiled at Ash. “You’d like it. You should come with me and we can go see him and his flowers.”

Ash said nothing for a while, but Eiji could easily imagine what might be going through Ash’s mind. “Say,” Ash finally said. “Want to see something really cool?” Then he looked up a little. “Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S.?”

“Yes, Ash?” J.A.R.V.I.S.’ voice came through softly, clearly aware of the peaceful atmosphere. 

“Peter’s never seen stars. Wanna give him a show?”

“It would be my pleasure.” The lights in the apartment dimmed far enough that Eiji, Ash, and Peter could see each other, but nothing else. “Peter, please look up and relax. You will see the sky as it would appear over New York City if there weren’t any light pollution.” Then, one-by-one, stars began to appear in the air above them. White and yellow and red, the stars all twinkled merrily. The moon was only a crescent, but it shone nearly as brightly as the sun. It was beautiful and Eiji was suddenly very aware that he hadn’t ever seen stars in New York City. 

Ash leaned his head back until it was resting on the seat of couch and Peter, of course, mimicked him. Ash said, “They aren’t all that different than in Cape Cod.” 

For a long while they stayed like that, silent and peaceful and comfortable. Eiji stretched his arms over his head then lay them on the seat of the couch, behind Peter’s head. His hand brushed against something cool. He looked over and saw that he was touching Ash’s hand. It wasn’t anything spectacular, their fingers only just brushed against each other. Ash was looking at him, though, and while Eiji couldn’t interpret his expression, he noticed that Ash didn’t pull away.

Peter yawned.

“Hey,” Ash looked at Peter. “Aren’t you sleepy? It’s late.”

“Is it?” Peter kept looking up at the stars projected above their heads. “Am I supposed to sleep, now? Am I sleepy?”

Ash grimaced. “I thought that might happen. I’ll help you get to sleep. You’re gonna sleep here, on the couch. Okay? It’s real nice and comfy. You can have a pillow and some blankets. J.A.R.V.I.S., I need more blankets for Peter. He’s always cold.”

“Please go to the bathroom and I will show you where they are stored.”

Ash stood up and told Eiji. “I’ll be right back.” He left in search of blankets and when he’d gone, Peter tensed, again.

“Please, don’t be scared of me,” Eiji said. “I wouldn’t hurt you.”

Peter smiled. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it, again.”

“I’d like to be friends, Peter.”

And that changed everything. The fake smile flashed into a real one, all brightness and light. “I like friends. I’m getting so many friends, lately. Ash said your name’s Eiji. That’s a funny name.”

“Oh? Maybe I think Peter is a funny name.”

As Eiji had hoped, that struck Peter as very funny and he laughed. It was like the sound of bells. “It’s funny, but I like it. I like you, too, because Ash likes you and he so, so smart.” 

Eiji completely understood why Ash was so protective of Peter because he, too, found that he wanted to take care of him. So he had Peter sit on the couch and talked to him about The Avengers while they waited for Ash. Peter had no idea who any of The Avengers were and Eiji was, sadly, not surprised. He told Peter about how they were heroes who worked hard to save people who couldn’t protect themselves and how they were well-known all through the world for upholding what was right and good.

Peter kept watching the stars. He licked his lips and cast a glance at Eiji out of the corner of his eyes. “I think... maybe... Ash said I don’t have to work, anymore. He said I get to play and have nice food and stuff. He said Papa Dino is gone.”

“He is. And Ash is right, you don’t have to do that sort of thing anymore.”

“Was it bad?”

“Was what bad?”

“What Papa Dino told me to do. Ash would get very angry about working when we were little. I think he thinks working was bad. If it was bad and The Avengers fight bad people, will they... will The Avengers fight me?”

Eiji gasped. “What? No. No. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you think THAT! J.A.R.V.I.S., tell him. Tell him they won’t hurt him. Please?”

J.A.R.V.I.S.’ voice was soft when he spoke, even softer than it normally was. “Eiji is right. Bad things were done to you. You didn’t do bad things. My Avengers understand that. No one will fight you here. You are safe.”

Later, when Peter had finally fallen asleep, Ash and Eiji sat next to each other on the floor with their backs against the couch Peter was sleeping on. Getting Peter to sleep had taken time. Ash had spoken to him quietly and told him to keep his eyes closed and think about nice things. Peter asked if he could think about flowers and Ash told him that was a fine thing to think about. Ash kept up a steady drone of almost meaningless talk while he held Peter’s hand until Peter finally fell asleep. “Dino always kept us drugged when we weren’t working. Always. I think Peter doesn’t remember ever falling asleep without the drugs so he doesn’t know what it feels like when he’s tired. I think he has to learn to fall asleep. God.”

Eiji leaned himself against Ash. “Michael is doing very well. So happy and he’s not afraid of anyone here. Peter is asleep and happy and safe. Max and Jessica are going to be remarried very soon. Everyone is happy, everyone is safe. How are you?”

Ash drew his legs up to his chest. “I’m alright.”

“Liar.”

“Yeah, well... it’s been a long day. I’m tired. Jenkins said something about Peter going to court. He shouldn’t have to testify.” He ran a hand over his head. “But he knows what happened, even if he doesn’t really understand that it was bad. And I’m a trash gang leader and killer and a prostitute, so probably half the people there won’t believe a word that comes out of my mouth anyway. They’ll believe Peter. The case will be stronger with him.”

“Number one: You aren’t trash. Number two: Everyone will believe you because you are wonderful. Number three: what are you planning to do?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Liar... again.” But Eiji didn’t press because he knew that when Ash felt he needed to keep something secret, nothing on Earth would drag it out of him. “When did you stop eating? You used to eat hot dogs and Shorter’s food and my cooking all the time. It stopped when Golzine had you, didn’t it? You said you were sick and couldn’t eat for a long time.”

Ash still stared at his knees. “Started before I met you, but it got bad when I had to go back to Dino. I could eat before, but it was hard ‘cause Dino didn’t want me to get fat so he made me have a real strict diet. I could eat with Shorter and you; you’d have both gotten worried if I didn’t. But when I went back to Dino... it was like the whole world turned gray and cold. I knew I should eat to keep strong so I could fight or escape when I got the chance, but... I just couldn’t. I can’t explain it. It’s dumb. Stupid. Even worse, he’s dead and every time I look at food I still can’t help but think whether or not he’d allow me to eat it and what he’d do if he caught me eating stuff he didn’t approve of. It’s stupid.”

“Not stupid.” Eiji boldly took Ash’s hand and squeezed it. “Never stupid. You’re hurt and still a little sick, but you’ll get better.”

Ash squeezed Eiji’s hand in return. “Don’t worry about me, please. I’m working on it. I know it’s not good and I’m working on it.”

“Can I help?”

“You always help me.” Then he snorted and made a face. “Everyone seems to want to help. Wanna know why we were at the hospital for so long? That Natasha thought it would be a good idea to run into gunfire and she got shot. Christ! She was trying to help me and almost died. I wish people wouldn’t help.”

Eiji, who couldn’t resist a chance to tease Ash, said, “It’s because you’re so small and cute that everyone wants to take care of you.” And he leaned over and poked Ash on the tip of his nose. “Maybe you remind everyone of a teddy bear.”

Ash’s eyes crossed when Eiji poked him on the nose. “You...! You’re crazy! I’m not small or cute and I’m not a teddy bear and - ”

“Shh!” Eiji put a finger to his lips. “Quiet or you’ll wake Peter.”

Ash opened his mouth to say something, but the door opened and Max and Jessica, laughing with their arms around each other, strolled in. Ash and Eiji both turned around and sat on their knees to peer over the back of the couch at where Max and Jessica stayed at the door until it closed and then spent a few seconds staring at each other with starry eyes, whispering sweetness to each other.

Ash gagged, loudly. “Gross. Go get a room; little kids are sleeping around here.”

Max started, but Jessica smirked at Ash. “Then I think all good little boys should be asleep by this hour. Good night, boys.” She took Max’s hand and led him through to their room. 

Ash wrinkled his nose. “Eww.”

It was entirely too funny and Eiji laughed. “Come on, Mama Jessica’s good little boy, you go to sleep, too. You can sleep in my bed.”

“Naw. I want to be nearby if Peter wakes up.”

“Alright. We will stay here.” Before Ash could protest and tell Eiji that he should go sleep in a real bed, Eiji said, “J.A.R.V.I.S., can you show us the stars over Izumo, Japan? I want Ash to see what the night looks like over my home.”

“Easily.” And, just like that, the stars overhead changed and were replaced with a slightly different scene. The change was so subtle that Eiji wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t been looking.

Ash stared at the stars, just as entranced as Peter had been when he’d first seen stars.

They stayed there, watching the stars with their backs against the couch Peter slept on. When Eiji had nearly fallen asleep leaning against Ash, he dimly heard Ash’s soft voice say, “Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S., do me a favor and remind Phil that I want to go see Griffin tomorrow. I didn’t have the chance today, but Peter’s gonna be fine, so I want to go tomorrow.”

“Yes, Ash.”

As Eiji drifted to sleep, he knew very well that Ash had something planned. There was something in his voice, something firm and strong, that told Eiji Ash had a plan. Something about tomorrow, about visiting Griffin. But he couldn’t focus enough to think about it and fell asleep, hoping he could remember to ask Ash in the morning and, if he didn’t, hoping that Ash would be safe.

Steve-

It was very late and he was alone when Steve, sitting at the kitchen table, re-read the note J.A.R.V.I.S. had found for him. It was all printed out, clear as a bell, and couldn’t be misunderstood. Dated ten years previously, the message read: 

Concerning the case you sent to me, Private Griffin Callenreese will be hospitalized at Kingsworth Hospital. Family will not be notified. Reports of his condition will be sent to this office every month until further notice. All information about this patient is to be considered top secret and anyone who leaks information to anyone outside this office about him, his condition, his military connection, or his health will be subject to twenty years in military prison.

The message had been signed by a general that Steve had never heard of. He read the message several times. “J.A.R.V.I.S., do you know where this email was sent to?”

“Yes, but that computer appears to have been inactive for many years, now. It is likely destroyed or abandoned. It is possible that this is a harmless message. Though the part where it says his family is not be informed of his whereabouts is alarming, it is possible that he had made the request that his family not be notified of anything. He has the right to do that.”

“True,” Steve sat back in his chair and crossed his arms as he looked down at the paper. “But even if he had told people that he didn’t want his family to know anything about him or make any decisions for him, wouldn’t Max and Phil have known that? They were so close to Private Callenreese that I’m sure he would have told them. But the real worrying thing is - why was a general even involved in this? If anyone got a bad dose of a drug, there would have been higher-ups who would deal with the situation, but it seems unlikely that a general would have the time to be involved every time a soldier ended up in a bad way. And why so much secrecy? Prison time just to prevent people talking about a young man who took a bad drug? I think this does a lot to prove what Ash said about Griffin being given the Banana Fish drug. I need to look into this a little more.”

The sound of a door opening and a heavy footstep alerted Steve that he wasn’t alone. He turned and, there, in the darkness, stood Tony. He leaned against the door jam. His shoulders were slumped. “You want to do a little investigating into military secrets? I’ll drink to that.” Tony sauntered in. He looked terrible. There were dark circles around his eyes and his skin was a little too pale. “Nat’s ready to come home. She’s not a hundred percent, but you know she’s going to try to act like she is. But she’s coming home.” Tony sat at the table opposite of Steve. “God... I need a drink.”

Steve narrowed his eyes. “What kind of drink?”

“Whiskey. I really want whiskey.”

Steve repressed a sigh. Natasha’s injury had obviously hit Tony hard. It always effected him strongly when one of the team got hurt. The whole team knew that Tony was terrified of any of them dying. “If you keep away from it, I’ll make you hot chocolate.”

“With marshmallows?”

“Of course.”

Tony gave a little half-smile. “How can I resist that? Bring on the chocolate.” While Steve went about making the drink, Tony kept talking. He was very good at talking. “Here we are, only trying to protect a kid, and Nat gets shot. What kind of messed up world is this that protecting a kid can get you killed? If she’d died... I’m so glad she’s coming home.” Then he put both hands over his face and rubbed it, as if he were trying to wake himself up. “I spoke with Phil a bit ago. He went to talk to Fury about the whole ‘Thema Shehata’ thing. This is going to be an awful mess. You know her country will want her body back and Fury’s not going to allow that until his investigation is done. He’ll investigate the whole council, you know. Or he should. I would. And while he’s upsetting the World Security Council, they’ll be threatening to pull funding from S.H.I.E.L.D. to stop Fury from finding out their dirty little secrets and it’s going to be this terrible tug-of-war until one side finds enough dirt on the other to make them back down.”

“They’re not going to find dirt about Fury.”

“Of course not, but you mark my word, by the time this is over almost everyone on the World Security Council will be replaced and... chocolate!” His face lit up with a smile when Steve set the promised mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows in front of him. For a few minutes, he just sat with Steve and savored his treat. “You know, I think it’s nice what you’re doing for Ash.”

Steve looked back down at the papers J.A.R.V.I.S. had helped him to get. “What are you talking about? This doesn’t help Ash.”

Tony gave a soft laugh. “J.A.R.V.I.S. tells me everything - you know that. So I know that you’ve been having him help you look into what happened to Ash’s big brother. You’ve been looking for information about what happened after he was given that drug.”

“Don’t tell Ash. Not yet.” Steve looked seriously at Tony. “Things don’t add up. The fact that there was some lunatic doctor using soldiers as guinea pigs had to have been noticed. Someone higher up on the chain of command must have known. From what I’ve found - what I think I’ve found - it looks like a lot of people knew. They knew and they ignored it or helped it to happen.” Then he stabbed at the name of the general who’d signed the email Steve had just been reading. “This guy was giving a lot of orders.”

“But you don’t want Ash to know?”

“There’s no reason to heap more stuff on his plate. Let him deal with his court appearance and get that all settled. I’ll look into this. Besides, this is a military matter and there is a proper way to go about things.”

“And you don’t think you’re helping Ash?”

“Doing all this,” Steve waved his big hand over the pile of papers he’d been going over during his research. “This doesn’t help. Ash’s brother is dead and nothing that I find in here will change that. If anything, it’ll bring back bad memories and make him feel worse for not being able to find his brother earlier. I’m doing this for Griffin, so he can have justice and for every soldier I don’t know the name of who suffered his same fate. How many others out there were experimented on? Did they die? Are they hidden away in nursing homes and hospitals where their families can’t find them?” Steve straightened his shoulders. “U.S. soldiers deserve better than this.”

Tony stood up, taking his mug with him, and moved to sit next to Steve. When he was settled, he raised his mug in the air. “Here’s to our soldiers.” And he took a drink. It was a simple gesture, but Steve appreciated it.

“So, how was the shopping trip?” Steve started to gather up his papers into a neat pile. The night was getting very late and he knew he wouldn’t finish his task in one night. There was just too much to go through. “Did they find the rings they wanted?”

“Oh, sure. Those two are a couple of little love-birds. They were all sweet smiles and cooing at each other until a mugger tried to jump them and Jessica yanked a grenade out of her purse.”

“What?”

“She didn’t set it off; she only threatened him with it. I doubt it was even real. Aside from that, all was quiet and everyone’s back, safe and sound. Most everyone. Still waiting for Natasha to get home. I don’t know what I’d do if any of you didn’t come home.”

Steve put a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “It’s going to be alright. She’s coming back. Besides, you’d have done the same thing if you saw a couple of kids getting shot at.”

“Yeah. I guess.” Tony abruptly pounded a fist on the table. “Change of subject. I’m going to buy Golzine’s mansions. Both of them. I think he only had two. J.A.R.V.I.S.?”

“Yes, sir. One was in the process of being rebuilt when he died. Due to Golzine’s death, Ash now owns them.”

“Right, his two mansions. I can’t imagine he’d want to keep them, so I’m going to offer to buy them from Ash, if he doesn’t decide to burn them down. In his shoes, I’d burn them down. But if he’s willing to sell, I’ll buy them.”

Steve wrinkled his nose. “What for?”

“I’ve got some plans. I think Ash will approve.”

Tony would say no more about the matter and Steve, who knew that Tony was about as stubborn as a person could possibly be, let the matter drop.

The next morning, breakfast went on as it always did. Natasha, Clint, and Phil had returned sometime well after midnight and appeared at the breakfast table as if nothing had happened and Steve was wise enough to give her a smile and not make a big deal about what happened. She wouldn’t have appreciated having attention drawn to her or her injury. Ash stayed close to Peter, who behaved as if he were perfectly happy and comfortable, but the tension in his eyes was all too clear.

It was after breakfast was finished that Max announced he and Jessica were getting married. Immediately. They were going to the town hall until Tony offered to have the ceremony in The Tower. 

“Everyone gets dressed up and I’ll get an official here. What do you want?” He rested his elbows on the breakfast table to asked Max and Jessica. “Priest? Vicar? Rabbi?”

“It’s a little short notice for that,” Max said. “A justice of the peace will do. Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Mind? Of course not. I’m all for a party. So, everyone go get your Sunday best on. J.A.R.V.I.S., we need a justice of the peace A.S.A.P. and I think a little catering might be nice. What’s good for a wedding? Steak? Fish?”

They settled on ordering in with fried chicken and pizza with the drink of choice for everyone. Out of respect for Tony’s attempt at an alcohol-free life, drinks would be a choice of water, ice tea, and soda. While those arrangements were being made, Max left the room. Michael was excited and talking non-stop to Ash about how excited he was that his daddy would finally be back with his family and Eiji, whom Peter seemed to have taken a shine to, tried to explain to Peter what a wedding was. When Max returned he held a plastic shopping back in one hand and whispered something to Jessica. Together, they went to Ash.

“We got you this,” Max handed the bag to Ash, who pulled out a white, button-down shirt and a pair of jeans. “Not fancy, but it’s clean and new, so it’ll do.” Max didn’t stop smiling the whole time. Then he clapped Ash on the shoulder. “Want to be my best man?”

“Shunichi’s my man of honor, so he can’t do the job.” Jessica slipped her arm around Shunichi, as if she were laying claim to him. “And Michael will be ring bearer, of course.” She ruffled Michael’s hair when he shouted with joy.

Ash stared at them and then at the clothes in his hands. “Y- you want me?” Then he rolled his eyes. “You two are so sickly sweet, it’s enough to make a person puke. God, I guess if you really have to do this... not like I have anything better to do.”

But Eiji, with a wicked little smile, suddenly snatched the clothes out of Ash’s hands. “It’s okay. If you don’t want to be best man, I will do it!”

Ash quickly and easily grabbed the clothes back. “Don’t be a jerk! Max said I can do it!” And he marched for the door, as if he didn’t hear the amused snickering or see Eiji’s teasing grin. He only stopped at the door when Max called out his name.

“Yeah, so... just one more thing. Me and Jessica, we have something for you.” Max took Jessica’s hand and they went to where Ash stood. They were removed enough from everyone else that whispers should have been enough to ensure privacy, but Steve, with his enhanced ‘everything’ heard it all. It was rude to listen, but it wasn’t as if he could just turn his ears off and he tried to be polite by pretending he didn’t hear. Max said, “So, ah... I... we... it’s all signed. And you don’t have to. It’s only if you want to. I know you don’t need... but we thought...” 

“What Max means,” Jessica nudged Max. “Is we have something for you.” She opened her purse and pulled out a piece of paper which she handed to Ash. “Here.”

Ash read the paper. He went eerily still. Steve actually heard Ash swallow before he said, “Adoption papers?”

“Like I said,” Max seemed to get a hold of his nerves. “It’s only if you want. You’re eighteen. You don’t need parents and we both understand that you can usually take pretty good care of yourself, but if you want we’d like to have you as part of the family. We’ve signed it, along with George Scott, so all it really needs is your signature. If you want. You don’t have to. We wouldn’t ask you to change your name, if you didn’t want to.” He reached up to scratched at the back of his head and put an arm over Jessica’s shoulders. “It’s your choice, kid. But you are welcome. We do want you.”

Ash seemed entirely taken aback. He stared at the paper and his expression was so odd that he might have been staring at either a golden treasure or a rattlesnake in his hand. Ash clutched the bag of clothes a little tighter to his chest. “I...” He stopped and turned away from them. “I don’t know.” But he didn’t give back the paper. He huffed out a breath. “You two are being really weird, know that? I mean... jeeze. I gotta get changed. Ibe-san,” he looked over to where Ibe-san still sat at the table. “You keep an eye on Peter for me, okay?” He didn’t wait for an answer before he turned and headed for the door. “Eiji, walk with me?” It didn’t surprise Steve a bit when Eiji hurried after Ash without hesitation.

Steve hid a grin behind his coffee cup when he realized Ash had walked out of the room with an iron grip on the adoption paper.

To Be Continued...


	38. Phone Calls

A/N: Dear readers, next week's chapter will be delayed by one week. Please, look for the next update the Saturday after next. Sorry for the delay.

Chapter 38: Phone Calls

Sitwell-

Sitwell wasn’t angry at Gregory for his over-the-top reaction to Sitwell’s attempt to get the Banana Fish. That would be as reasonable as being angry at a rabid dog for being rabid. No. He wasn’t angry. He was frustrated that his plan hadn’t worked when, really, it should have gone very nicely. If Gregory’s main target was Ash, then threatening his target should have worked. It hadn’t. Instead, Gregory had all but gone mad and attacked Sitwell without thought or reason. It had been a miscalculation, nothing more. His plans weren’t ruined. Gregory had the Banana Fish and it would be retrieved one way or the other. All he had to do was wait a bit for Gregory to calm down and then tail him. Sooner or later, he would have to get it from wherever he’d hidden it and then Sitwell could just kill him and take it. Simple.

He had driven only far enough to conceal his car in a nearby stand of trees, hidden enough so that passers-by wouldn’t notice it, but not so hidden that it would be difficult for him to find it. With that done, he made his way quickly back to Golzine’s mansion where he’d left Gregory Dufort. He couldn’t take the road in case Gregory decided to leave by that way before Sitwell got back to the mansion, but he did follow it, keeping a few yards beyond the trees that lined the road. The mansion was quiet when he returned, but Gregory’s earlier reaction had been volatile enough that Sitwell was extremely cautious when he crept up to the building.

Sitwell pressed himself against a wall of the mansion just under a window, then slowly, tense with readiness to run or fight should he be discovered by his current target, raised himself up enough to look in the window. There was no sign of Gregory. He stayed there a minute, watching and listening, but the building might have been abandoned. That wouldn’t do. Sitwell frowned at the thought of his lucky stroke of finding Gregory in the mansion going to waste by having Gregory escape. Onward he went, from window to window on the first floor, he kept moving until he finally found Gregory, in a hall. With what was clearly a tranquilizer gun in one hand, Gregory walked back and forth for a few minutes before he left the hall and Sitwell had to follow him to another room.

He went into what looked like a living room and, in a curious move, sat on the floor in front of a leather upholstered armchair. There, he stayed for some time while he stared at the empty fireplace.

‘He’s calmed. That’s good.’ Sitwell settled himself in to wait for Gregory to make a mistake. ‘He was willing to give it up to have Blanca dead. If I could convince him that I killed... no. No, he was too wild. I won’t deal with that mess, again. Best to just to be patient and wait. I’ve got time, after all.’

He took out his cellphone and called his headquarters and, in mere seconds, got the telephone number he needed. There was no reason to be idle while he waited for Gregory to go after Ash - he was certain Gregory wouldn’t leave the Banana Fish behind, he was sure to take it with him.

He dialed the number his headquarters had given him and was quickly rewarded with a voice on the other end saying, 

“Good afternoon. You’ve reached the Lee Estate. How may I help you?”

“Good afternoon. I’d like to speak with Mister Lee Yut-Lung.” After all, if Gregory had been helpful enough to give out the name of the last person Blanca had been working for only a short time ago, then Sitwell would have to be pretty foolish not to use that information. “Please tell him that Mister Snow would like a word with him.”

“One moment, please,” the person on the other end of the line said, curtly.

It took several minutes of waiting, far longer than what might be considered polite, but Sitwell was very patient. 

Finally, a different voice on the other end of the phone said, “Well? You had something to say to me, Mister Snow?” The voice was very young, a boy rather than a man. The voice was sharp, hard like diamond. “I am rather busy at the moment and I do not intend to spend my precious time chatting away with strangers.”

“Then let’s not waste time. I would like very much to speak with Blanca and my information tells me that he was last employed as your bodyguard. Would you know where he is? Is he still in your employ?”

There was a silence on the other end that dragged on for so long that Sitwell began to think that Yut-Lung must have hung up on him. He was about to speak again when Yut-Lung said, his voice entirely calm, “I’m dreadfully sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about. Have a good day.”

“Please, wait. I think we can be of use to one another. Blanca’s skills are very important to me, very valuable. I have a business proposition for him and it had occurred to me that if he hadn’t formally completed his contract and still works for you or if you have a way to contact him, then you can be of great help to me. Of course, I couldn’t possibly expect you to go to any efforts for me without good reason and I am prepared to offer a very good reason for you to cooperate with me.”

Yut-Lung laughed, softly. “I sincerely doubt there is anything you could offer me that I can’t get on my own.”

“It’s possible that you’re quite correct. In fact, I’ve heard much about the Lee Clan and how its’ influence reaches all parts of the globe and its’ immense wealth and power. Compared to that, I can offer nothing... except a little information. It has been brought to my attention that a great many people in this city are looking for Gregory Dufort.” Sitwell went back up on one knee and peered into the room Gregory was in, still sitting on the floor in front of that armchair. He knew very well that the underworld of Chinatown was hunting for Gregory just as fiercely as the police were. He hadn’t known why, but knowing that Blanca had recently been in the employ of the Lee Clan and that Gregory wanted Blanca dead, well... it wasn’t hard to guess that the Lee’s were protecting Blanca. “I happen to know exactly where Gregory Dufort is.”

“Is that so?” The words were soft and drawn out.

“It is. I have reason to believe that Blanca is also interested in finding Gregory Dufort and I’d like to give him this information, to sweeten the deal as it were. I can give you Dufort so your people can stop wasting time looking for him and, if you like, you can give him to Blanca. Now, I’m not a man to poach another man’s hired help so I wouldn’t dream of taking him from you before he has served out his contract, but when his contract with you is completed, I would merely like him to consider my offer. Surely, that’s not too much to ask.”

“Offering me someone’s head on a platter, are you? That’s not exactly legal.”

“Well...” he laughed. “Let’s just say that neither you nor I are entirely on the right side of the law.”

“Maybe you’re not, but you won’t find a single illegal act to tie to my name. Not one accusation.”

“Oh?” Sitwell leaned back in his seat, his hands folded neatly on his lap. “Then I suppose you weren’t the one who made a bargain with Dino Golzine to have your family murdered? Because there have been rumors here and there. Dark little whispers. I wonder what Gregory Dufort will say on that matter. He was Golzine’s confidant, I understand. Knew all his business. So, if he goes to court and decides that he can get himself a lighter sentence if he tells everything he knows and he even suggests that you had anything at all to do with the deaths of your brothers and their families, then I think you’ll find yourself with a lot of very awkward, very public, questions. It may make it impossible for you to do business at all and it would be a shame have your life ruined.”

“I have your phone number,” Yut-Lung said. “I’ll be in contact.” Then he hung up.

Almost the exact moment that he hung up the phone, Sitwell looked back into Golzine’s mansion and saw Gregory stand. He carried with him the tranquilizer gun. He took time to look it over, then to check his gun to see that it was loaded. Without any further hesitation, he left the building and Sitwell, feeling quite satisfied with his progress, followed. Very shortly, he would be able to demonstrate to Ash Lynx the power of HYDRA and how Sitwell could be so useful to him. 

The Lee Mansion-  
Yut-Lung-

Yut-Lung hung up the phone and, for a time, fumed. Whoever Mister Snow was, he didn’t like him. He liked very few people, but this caller held a special place in Yut-Lung’s dungeon of dislike. To be so blatantly reminded of what he’d done to his brothers felt like a threat and he didn’t appreciate that.

It had been a while since anyone had threatened Yut-Lung so blatantly.

Wang-Lung wrapped his huge hand around Yut-Lung’s neck and held him there, on his knees with his back painfully pressed against the edge of the desk. Wang-Lung’s hand tightened until Yut-Lung could barely breathe. “I could break your thin neck anytime I wished to!”

Yut-Lung didn’t like being threatened.

“What was that about?”

At the voice, disturbingly frail, Yut-Lung turned around. There, near the large double doors that led out to Yut-Lung’s garden, sat Sing. He was in a wheelchair. His head was bandaged and his face was a horrible quilt of bruises. He was too pale and looked entirely too delicate for the strong-willed young man Yut-Lung had come to depend on. Sing should not look so small.

“A business proposition, I expect. Someone named Snow. I never heard of him. Fan?”

“No, sir.” As reliable as ever, Fan stood close to Sing, in case he should need help. “I don’t recall that name at all from your brother’s business. I should tell you that I expect it may be a fake name. If that person is involved with illegal activities, it wouldn’t make sense for him to give you his real name at a first meeting, not when he doesn’t know or trust you.”

Sing nodded his agreement. “That’s true. What kind of business proposition he did have?”

“Nothing to worry you.” He narrowed his eyes. “What should worry you is getting to sleep. You’re supposed to be resting. I have a doctor coming soon to look after you.”

“I don’t need looking after.” But he looked exhausted and hadn’t even tried to get out of the wheelchair (sensible, considering his broken bones) since he’d been brought to Yut-Lung’s home, much to the displeasure of his doctors at the hospital. “I need to know what’s going on. Nadia said... she said... she...” He closed his eyes and seemed to gather his strength. “She gave my phone to Ash because the guys who attacked me were from HYDRA. I need to know what’s going on.”

Yut-Lung crossed his arms over his chest. “You are here because she told me what she’d seen on that video you took and she told me about HYDRA and I’m not leaving it to chance that they won’t come after you, again. So, go to sleep! Fan, go put him in a bed somewhere.”

“Yes, sir.” And Sing was wheeled out of the room without any further annoying arguing, though that annoying arguing might have been a little reassuring in that moment.

“Mister Lee,” Nadia Wong stood up from where she’d been sitting on the sofa. “Thank you. It never occurred to me that anyone would try to hurt Sing in a hospital. I suppose I should have thought about it. I was so happy when he finally woke up and started talking that I just wanted to tell everyone. You’ve been so kind to him that I knew you’d want to be informed. If it’s too much trouble, I can take him back to the Chang Dai. I’m sure I can keep it secret that he’s there.”

The idea that the gentle young woman could protect Sing against HYDRA if they went after him was almost laughable, but Yut-Lung didn’t laugh. “Sing has been a great help to me. This is no trouble at all. And if you’re uncomfortable staying here, I suggest you lay low somewhere for a while until things settle down. It’s not known that you are the one who found Sing, but he would be unhappy if you were hurt.” Then, awkwardly, he said something he very rarely said to anyone. “Thank you. For telling me he was awake and about the HYRDA involvement.” Of course, the minute he’d known that the fearsome organization had been involved with hurting Sing, he’d gone with his people straight to the hospital and had Sing discharged. It had taken a few lies, a couple of bribes, and a threat, but he was sure that Sing would be much safer where Yut-Lung could provide guards, even if Sing wasn’t entirely recovered and still needed a doctor’s care.

“I’ll stay with Sing for a while, thank you.” Nadia left the room and Yut-Lung wandered out to his garden. He felt like there was a weight on his back. Sing’s life was in his hands. Blanca was being hunted and Yut-Lung wouldn’t be at all surprised if that Snow character weren’t also from HYDRA. But, he had said he knew where Gregory Dufort was and Blanca really wanted to kill Gregory. It would be nice to be able to give Blanca a present. The idea that he might be able to get the Banana Fish from Gregory was tempting, too. He wondered if Shorter’s spirit would be pleased at the destruction of the Banana Fish. He wondered if it would help keep peace and order between Chinatown and Ash’s people if he were to give the Banana Fish to Ash. Were any of those benefits worth helping some stranger contact Blanca? Blanca was uniquely competent to survive anything and anyone who stood against him and he would definitely be interested in meeting with someone who claimed to know where Gregory Dufort was, but there was always a chance that Blanca might be hurt or killed.

That weight on Yut-Lung’s back seemed to get heavier with his thoughts. He was pretty sure that weight was called ‘responsibility’ and he didn’t like it.

So, to get his mind off such matters, he went to his green house and harvested several flower blossoms off a vine. He took those blossoms to a tiny room that had been put in the mansion just for him - a laboratory. His brothers had insisted he be trained in the use and natures of a wide variety of plants, so he may as well make use of that knowledge. With painstaking care, he used a blade to slice the flower blossoms into tiny segments before he put a sample on a slide and looked at it under a microscope. It was a project he’d been working on - a project he hoped might put to rest that terrible memory he’d had of watching Shorter, in the grips of the Banana Fish, rage mindlessly while he tried to kill a harmless boy.

At The Avengers’ Tower-  
Phil-

The drive home was quiet, comfortably peaceful. A glance in the rear view mirror showed Natasha and Clint, side-by-side, and the sight gave Phil such comfort. He was exhausted. Too much stress. Natasha was paler than normal, but other than that, looked perfectly normal. She’d fixed her hair and make-up and wore stylish clothes Phil had found in her closet and brought to the hospital for her. Anyone might think that she was perfectly healthy, but the pills and prescription and written instructions in a bag on the passenger seat beside Phil told a different story.

Back at the Tower, Phil walked with Clint and Natasha to be sure Natasha got back to her rooms safely and all the while listened as Clint made little jokes and teased lightly, all in a clear effort to lift Natasha’s spirit.

“I have been too distracted, lately. This shouldn’t have happened.” She seemed bent on blaming herself for her injury and Phil, who loved his people so dearly, couldn’t stand for that. He tried to argue, but she shook her head and didn’t give herself an inch of forgiveness. “I am better than this!” She gestured sharply to her wound. “To be nearly killed by someone like Thema Shehata... I am ashamed.”

“If it makes you feel better,” Clint said when he brought her a glass of water. “Steve told me he doesn’t think that woman was even aiming at you. He thinks she was aiming at Ash and she was just such a rotten shot that she hit you entirely by accident. What happened really was just bad luck.”

Natasha’s face crumpled. “That does not make me feel better. People could have gotten killed because I wasn’t good enough.”

“Hey, now.” Phil sat next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “I told you - Peter is alright. He was only barely grazed by the bullet and Ash didn’t even get a scratch on him. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I was distracted. I have been distracted thinking of... the past. Thinking of things that no longer matter, that shouldn’t matter. That has clearly slowed me down. In the Red Room they would have...”

Clint growled, “You’re not in the Red Room. You’re here. You’re home and you’re safe and no one’s going to hurt you even if you do make a mistake - which you didn’t.” He flopped down on Natasha’s other side. “And it’s not like you can just stop your memories. No one can. Are you still bugged about whoever told Ash about ‘sloppy and unprofessional’?”

She nodded, stiffly. “I will put it aside. I will not be distracted, again.” She turned to Phil, determined. “You have my word. You can depend on me.”

“I never doubted that.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke up at that moment to inform everyone of the wedding that was about to take place in the common room. “Sir has arranged it all. The Justice of the Peace has arrived and all parties are ready. If any of you would care to attend, Max and Jessica have let it be known that you are all invited. However, if you do not feel up to it, then do not pressure yourselves. In any event, I am recording the ceremony for future viewing.”

Of course they choose to attend. By the time they arrived and had Natasha comfortably situated in an armchair, Max and Jessica stood in front of the Justice of the Peace, an elderly man who was clearly very happy to be conducting the ceremony. Ibe-san stood with Jessica and Ash stood with Max while little Michael stood at the side, looking very serious with his role as ring bearer. Simple vows were exchanged along with rings. It was all done in a matter of minutes.

When Max and Jessica kissed, everyone cheered. It didn’t escape Phil’s notice that even Ash, who understandably shied away from shows of affection, looked on with a happy little smile.

Tony let out a loud whistle. Dressed in his finest for the occasion, a tuxedo that undoubtedly cost a small fortune, Tony announced, “And congratulations to the happy newlyweds! We’ve got a good spread to celebrate,” he gestured to the kitchen table where there was a small feast of take-out food laid out. “And I think J.A.R.V.I.S. can provide us with some music. And, on behalf of The Avengers team, I would like to give the newlyweds a wedding gift of one all-expense-paid vacation. Just tell J.A.R.V.I.S. where you’d like to go and it’ll be done.”

And then there was dancing and music. Michael danced with his parents before he settled in to eat pizza. Even Ash danced. First, he swung Peter around the room in a manner that had very little to do with dancing, but everything to do with making Peter laugh. Then he and Eiji danced. Eiji had protested, saying that he didn’t know how to dance, but Ash promised to teach him. Their dance was slow and clumsy and rather awkward, but they laughed together so Phil thought it was a perfectly good dance.

While everyone was having fun - sorely needed after recent events - Phil slipped away.

In the hall, alone as one could be in the Tower, his shoulders slumped. He was so unbelievably tired. Slowly, dragging his feet, Phil went back to his apartment and sat on his bed. He put his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands and did nothing but breathe and tried to find the energy to do his job. It was hard, sometimes. His job was his life and his life was his job. He sat there for no longer than three minutes before he took out his cellphone and dialed Fury’s number.

“Phil,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “Is all well?”

“Everyone’s home and alive. I’d say that’s a pretty good day. I just have a little more work to do.” He put the phone to his ear and waited. 

After just two rings, Fury said, “Give me an update.”

“Natasha’s alive and doing extremely well. Her doctor and I are both confidant about a full recovery. The second witness is fine. It was just a scratch, really.”

“Good. It’s only a few more days that you’ll have to play babysitter. I have been informed of the court date. Things are going as smoothly as can be expected. A few measures have had to be taken, but all is going as planned in the arrests. They have dozens of people arrested and ready to stand trial. Three governments have agreed to hand over anyone accused of being involved with Club Cod to the United States.”

“Any news about double agents in our own ranks?” 

“No one found, yet.”

“The investigators will need to be investigated, as well.”

“I know. I haven’t entirely lost my competency. I did as you suggested and had them start from the top ranks and work their way down, starting with myself and my lead agents.” He almost sounded as if he were grinning when he said, “By the way, you’re in the clear.”

“Oh, good. But you didn’t find anything else? Not on any of the lead agents?” Sitwell was one of the lead agents and, as he held equal rank to Phil, he should have been investigated at nearly the same time.

“No. Everyone’s passing very easily. Don’t worry about all that. You let me do that. You just worry about making sure there are no more incidents with Mister Lynx before the court date.”

So, it seemed that Phil’s instincts had been wrong when he’d thought there was something suspicious about Sitwell running into Ash several times and having little conversations. That was good. He didn’t want to think there were any more of his people working for the enemy. All the same, something just didn’t sit right with him about the whole thing. But at least he had done the right thing and let the professional investigators do their work rather than making some sort of big scene. That might have caused Sitwell terrible problems and he would never want to ruin a man’s life over nothing more than his obviously flawed suspicions.

“Yes, sir. My team is actually getting to be quite fond of Ash.”

Late that night-  
Ash-

He waited until everyone was asleep. It didn’t take long. It had been a long day for everyone. Michael, of course, was the first one asleep, quickly followed by Peter. When Max and Jessica had left Ash and Eiji to go into their room, they didn’t come out again. Just like the previous night, Ash and Eiji had sat on the floor together near the couch where Peter was sleeping just in case Peter woke up in the middle of the night and needed Ash. Eiji fell asleep on Ash’s shoulder and it was surprisingly comfortable. In the quiet darkness of the apartment, Ash eased Eiji off him and carefully helped him to lay on the floor. Somehow, he managed to do it all without waking up Eiji. He found another blanket and covered Eiji up, but supposed that trying to slip a pillow under his head would be sure to wake Eiji.

Ash went into the bathroom where J.A.R.V.I.S. had once told him that he paid as little attention to people as it was possible for him for the sake of privacy. “Don’t you blab a word to anyone,” Ash warned J.A.R.V.I.S. as soon as he closed the bathroom door. He took his phone out of his pocket. “This is private.”

“As you wish,” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

It took Ash twenty minutes to gather up enough courage to actually dial the number.

“Who the Hell is this?”

Ash swallowed hard and hoped it hadn’t been audible. “Hi, dad.”

“What do you want?”

So much for an easy conversation. “Got to talk to you.”

“It’s the middle of the damned night.”

“Yeah. It’s important. Look, I know where Griffin is. Where he’s buried. I met this guy and he knew Griff when he was serving. He pulled a few strings, I guess, and he got Griff moved to a proper veteran’s cemetery.” Ash told him the name and address of the cemetery Phil had given him. When he was done, there was silence over the phone for an uncomfortably long time until Ash finally said, “You wanna go see him?”

“It’s busy here, lately. I got no time.”

That lump in Ash’s throat got heavy. “I’m gonna go see him, soon. You could close the diner for a day. Just a couple of hours.”

“Is that all you called about?”

Ash sighed and took a deep breath to help that lump in his throat dissolve so he could think a little easier. “No. Look, you remember Max? He was Griff’s buddy in the war? Well, he’s been real good to me. Even when things got bad, Max was there and he really had my back. I met his wife, too, and she’s pretty great. They got a little kid, too. Yeah and...” his mouth was suddenly very dry. “Max and his wife gave me this paper and... they said they wanted to...”

“I don’t have time to listen to you to ramble. I have to work early.” And then he hung up.

Alone, Ash sat and stared at the wall in front of him. Faintly, he whispered, “They want to adopt me, dad. They’re really nice. I like them. What do you think? Is it okay? Do you mind? I feel safe with them. Please, tell me it’s okay.” He whispered the words to the wall and was very glad there was no one to see him. Then he shook his head. He really should have known how that conversation would end. “I don’t need his approval, anyway.” Then he glared up at the ceiling and shoved his phone back into this pocket. “You didn’t hear at thing, J.A.R.V.I.S., you got that?!”

“I understand. May I suggest something to relieve your stress and help you to sleep? A cup of tea?”

Ash put a hand to his stomach. “God, no. I couldn’t keep anything down now to save my life.”

Instead, without moving from where he sat on the edge of the bathtub, Ash dialed Blanca’s number and, it was no surprise, Blanca answered at once. “Hello, Kitten. What are you doing up so late?”

“I wanted to tell you - someone offered to adopt me, today. Not like Dino, but a real adoption. They want me to be part of their family.”

“I will guess that it is Max. Am I right, Kitten?”

“Yeah. What do you think of him?”

“He looked after you when you were in prison. He does have a criminal record, which gave me pause, but a more in depth investigation proved that it was nothing too serious. I have certainly seen worse crimes committed. His writings are not art, but they do show intelligence and insight. Max’s son seemed very attached to you at the hospital and also relieved to see his parents when they had arrived. From all this, along with your readiness to give yourself up to Colonel Foxx when he threatened to kill Max, makes me think very highly of his character. I have also formed a high opinion of Jessica Randy when I got to know her; she seems both intelligent and caring.”

“How do you know all that about them?”

“I did a background check on the family. They will make an excellent family and support structure for you.”

And Ash felt warmth start to glow in his chest. “So... you approve?”

“I do.” Blanca chuckled. “I thought you might be mad that I researched them.”

“Naw. I guess I’d be kinda surprised if you hadn’t. So... you like them?”

“I think the more important question is - do YOU like them?”

“Yeah. They’re really great.”

“Then I wish you all the happiness in the world.” Blanca paused a moment and when he spoke, his voice was filled with regret. “I wish I could have been... well... more for you. But I didn’t understand many things. There are still things I don’t understand. Perhaps, my own upbringing has left me unfit to care for others. I certainly did you no good, though I had wished to help you be strong so that you would survive that life Golzine had you trapped in. That wasn’t enough. I would never make a good parent.”

Ash snorted at that. He remembered his time with Blanca with fondness. Blanca had protected him and taught him how to protect himself. True, he hadn’t been one to give hugs or anything else so mushy, but Ash had felt cared for when Blanca was around. “You were great, too. You gave me what I needed back then. I’d have been helpless without you.”

“You also wouldn’t know how to pull out a person’s fingernails.”

“I could have learned that on my own.”

Again, Blanca laughed. “Not you, my gentle Kitten. If the world had been kinder to you, you would have been able to indulge that tender soul of yours. Now, I think I really AM getting too sentimental. I am working, you know.”

And, just like that, Ash put all thoughts of the past and of the adoption aside for the clearly more important issue. “Are you still hunting?”

“Of course. You know I don’t stop until the job is finished. We must be professional.”

‘Let me help,’ Ash wanted to say. ‘You used to let me help you hunt.’ But he didn’t say it. “Be careful.”

“I am always careful. Listen - I’ve been watching you with the hopes that Gregory would be drawn to you, but he has stayed away so far and I believe I must leave here to start a more active hunt, again. I’m not abandoning you. I’m very patient and, eventually, I will find Gregory. He will grow impatient and careless and will give me some clue.”

“You do what’s best. I trust you. So, where have you looked?”

Blanca laughed, openly. “And now you are trying to find out where I’ve looked for Gregory so you will have a better idea of where you should look. You’re planning to leave that Tower, aren’t you? You will go after Gregory on your own?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you might. Be safe.”

To Be Continued...


	39. Family

Chapter 39: Family

In Golzine’s Mansion-  
Sitwell-

The Banana Fish was in the tranquilizer gun.

Sitwell realized it almost as soon as he watched Gregory walk out the door of Golzine’s mansion.

Night had fallen and all was quiet in the upscale neighborhood Golzine had chosen to build his mansion in. There was no traffic and the very few homes - all as over-the-top as Golzine’s mansion was - were mostly dark as the residents had gone to sleep long ago. There was the soft sound of an owl calling out and, so far from the city, the stars were brilliant little gems glistening in the sky. It was peaceful and quiet, altogether relaxing, and the only thing that Sitwell could focus on was that Gregory had the Banana Fish in a tranquilizer gun.

He watched Gregory for a time until it became apparent that he was walking. Walking back to New York City, apparently. That was good. Sitwell, took his gun out of its’ holster under his jacket and followed Gregory. The night was clear and the moon was bright, giving plenty of light to see Gregory walking down the side of the road even at a distance.

If the Banana Fish was in the tranquilizer gun, then it was most likely a liquid. If he shot Gregory or fought with him...

Sitwell lowered his gun as he thought.

... then it was possible that the dart the Banana Fish must have been in would break if the tranquilizer gun was dropped and the drug would be lost. And he hadn’t seen a sign of any more of the drug, despite the fact that he’d read in Phil Coulson’s reports that Ash Lynx had mentioned a metal briefcase which was suspected to have research about the drug locked in it. That metal suitcase would have been nearly as valuable as the drug itself, but at that moment, all Sitwell had was the strong suspicion that the drug was in the tranquilizer gun. If it wasn’t and he killed Gregory, then all hope was lost and he did not intend to have his reputation tarnished the way Thema Shehata had.

He could wait until the tranquilizer gun was put down, but the way that Gregory was holding onto it didn’t seem as if he would put it down any time soon.

Gregory walked slow and steady, as if he weren’t in a hurry, as if he didn’t fear anyone calling the police if they saw him walking around at night with a gun. He walked by a house and a dog barked furiously.

Sitwell kept as far back from Gregory as he could and still keep the man in sight, always debating on what to do. He wouldn’t let Gregory use that tranquilizer gun on Ash Lynx, because he was dead certain that was what Gregory had planned. What else would Gregory do with the Banana Fish? He wouldn’t let Ash Lynx’s potential use be destroyed by a drug and he wouldn’t let the Banana Fish be wasted in such a senseless way.

The dog barked, again, as Sitwell passed that house. 

Gregory turned and stepped into the forest, disappearing at once. 

Sitwell cursed and ran to the spot where he’d last seen Gregory, but stopped himself before he ran after him. On the side of that lonely road, listening as the dog’s barking faded into nothing, he knew that Gregory must have heard the dog’s barking when Sitwell had walked by that house and realized he was being followed so he’d taken to the forest. Considering how Gregory had gone into the forest without hesitation, it was sensible to think that he knew the area well enough not to get lost or hurt as he made his way through it. Even if Sitwell did manage to find him, a fight for the tranquilizer gun would mean risking the Banana Fish - if that was what was in it. A fight would also risk Sitwell getting shot with the Banana Fish.

Failure was... unthinkable.

He took comfort of the weight of his gun in his hand before he stepped off the side of the road and into the forest. 

The Next Morning-  
The Avenger’s Tower-  
Phil-

The morning after Max and Jessica had gotten married was quiet, but busy. Steve sat at the kitchen table, going through old military records, his expression getting more and more sour. Phil quietly sat with him when he went into the kitchen. It was late in the morning and breakfast came and went, but Steve kept focused on his paperwork. A brief glance over his shoulder told Phil that he was still working on finding other soldiers who’d been experiment on with the Banana Fish. What he was finding wasn’t good. 

Phil sat at the table with Steve and looked around. Max sat on the floor with Michael and Peter, playing with little toy cars. Jessica sat on the sofa with Tony, talking quietly and seriously about something.

“Where’s Ash?” Phil asked.

“Sleeping.”

Two hours passed, with Jessica and Tony still talking - thick as thieves - and still Ash didn’t appear.

“He sleeps a lot,” Max told them when ten o’clock rolled around and there was no sign of Ash. “On the rare occasions that he sleeps, it’s hard for him to wake up. Leave him alone and he’ll wake up when he’s ready.”

It was nearly midday when Ash finally made an appearance in the common room and, when he did, Eiji was with him. Eiji said, “Someone was up too late last night.”

Ash didn’t reply, but made a rude gesture that made Eiji grin unrepentantly.

Michael ran to Ash and grabbed one of his hands. “Ash! Did you sign the paper, yet? Did you? You can live with us, now, all the time! And we’re gonna stay here in the city. Mommy said so,” Michael chattered happily as he and Ash walked into the kitchen. “’Cause we don’t want to go home to California because bad things happened there and I’m really sorry because I told you if mommy and daddy adopted you you could live in the spare room because it’s for really important people and I think you’re really important, but now you can’t and I’m sorry but I don’t want to go back.” Michael paused and took a deep breath before he continued, “But we can stay here in your apartment ‘cause it’s just as big as a real house and there’s room for everyone and daddy said he knows how to make more bedrooms ‘cause the living room is stupid big so you and me can have rooms and mommy and daddy can have the room mommy and me were using and then we gotta go to school and we can help each other with homework and stuff and it’s gonna be great ‘cause we’re BROTHERS!” He squealed the last word, so excited the could hardly contain himself.

Ash grinned. “I gotta sign the paper first, kid.”

“You said you would.” Michael’s tone turned almost accusing. “You did say you’d do it if mommy and daddy asked you to and they did. You said.” 

It seemed to Phil that Michael was only barely restraining himself from a sad little, ‘You promised!’ But he did restrain himself.

“Yeah. I did.” Ash looked away from Michael and he looked at where Max and Jessica were. There was something unreadable in his expression. It almost drove Phil to distraction how little he could read Ash. It was his job - he’d trained for years to be able to read people! - to be able to tell how people were feeling or what was on their mind simply through body language and facial expressions, but there were times - such as just that moment - when Ash was able to entirely wall himself away and other times it was as if Ash’s heart and mind were bared for all the world to see - his face might as well have been a literal mask for how well he was able to control it when he pleased to. It was both frustrating and impressive and he couldn’t help but wonder what it might have been like, if Ash had had a different life and had been able to join S.H.I.E.L.D. and train that talent he had. As it was, Phil would have bet good money on Ash never wanting to work for any kind of organization like S.H.I.E.L.D. because, no matter how good their intentions might be, it was a still a life of violence and danger.

“Then you’ll do it?” Michael persisted. “You’ll sign it?”

Ash opened his mouth, but Max spoke up as he stood from where he’d been playing with Peter. “Come on, Michael. We talked about this. It’s Ash’s choice, so don’t badger him. Ash, we need to talk. I spoke with Captain Jenkins this morning.”

Ash went still and narrowed his eyes. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. He wants information from Peter about...”

“No!” Ash snapped. 

“It’s for the best. George is coming over now to talk to him.” Max went to the kitchen and got himself a cup of coffee before he continued with, “You know this is important. He’s a victim and a witness. Captain Jenkins will need to speak to him, just like any other witness from any other case.”

“He doesn’t have to go through all this!” Ash looked at Max as if he’d been betrayed. “How can you stand there and tell me that someone like Peter has to go through a trial! He doesn’t even understand what’s going on!”

The confrontation was rough, harder than anyone wanted it to be and, yet, Phil knew, there was no going around it. “Ash, no one said he has to stand up in court and talk in front of a crowd. I spoke with the judge and he’s agreed that he’ll speak with Peter in his chambers. He’s not new at this; the man’s been a judge for almost forty years and he’s worked with this sort of case before. He’ll make it all as relaxed for Peter as possible. And George Scott will be with him. He’ll be safe.”

Ash wasn’t at all mollified. His face was about as calm as a thunderstorm.

Max put a hand on Ash’s shoulder. “Look, if I thought it would be best for Peter to stay quiet and hidden, then I’d be fighting tooth and nail to get him and you somewhere far from all this. But it might be nice for Peter to know that the people who hurt him will never be able to hurt him again and that he was part of what made that happen. And you know George will be gentle with him. He deals with kids in bad situations all the time.”

“If that’s some crack about me...”

“It’s not. He’s a divorce lawyer, mainly, and it’s awful what kids go through in some of those situations. I know you want to protect Peter, but his safety will be increased if all those people are put behind bars. And you know George isn’t going to do anything to hurt him. Come on, kid. Sit down and have some breakfast... well... lunch at this time of day.”

“I’m not hungry!”

“I want to help.” 

Everyone turned to look at him when Peter spoke up. Peter only looked at Ash.

Ash rolled his eyes. “You don’t want to be involved in all this. Believe me.”

“I want to help,” Peter repeated himself. “I don’t know why everyone’s upset, but I want to help. You’re sad and scared and you always help me when I’m sad and scared so I want to help you. I’ve been listening.” He gestured around the room. “I listen to everyone talk and I think what people did to you and me and everyone back at home must have been bad because everyone’s really unhappy, but I don’t understand because Papa loved us and wouldn’t hurt us.”

Ash winced.

Peter continued, “But if you think it was bad, then I trust you. I think...And I think you’re going to tell people about what we did at home?”

Ash nodded. “What those people did to you and me was bad. Really bad. And they knew it was bad so I want to stop them so they can’t keep doing bad things. But I can handle this, Peter.”

“Is it bad if I talk to people?”

“No. No, of course not, but it’s not going to be nice to talk about all the stuff that was done to us.”

“I can talk. I’m not scared if you’re here.”

The oddest look came over Ash’s face. He looked as if he were angry, but desperately trying not to show it. “Do you know what I’m trying to do? All those people back... back ‘home’ who Papa told us to entertain... you remember them? All those people we had to go see at their hotels? All those people are really bad, horrible people and I’m trying to get them in trouble. I’m talking to the police.”

The shocked look on Peter’s face might have been comical if the situation weren’t so grim.

“I am telling the police everything I know, every little detail about what went on back home.” Ash sneered the last word, as if it sickened him to say it. “I’m trying my best to get all those people thrown in prison for years and they’re going to be really, really mad at me. You don’t want people to be mad at you, do you?”

Peter went pale. “They’re gonna be mad?”

“Yeah. Really mad. There’s gonna be yelling and maybe even fighting. So it’s better if you don’t get involved and let me deal with this.”

Peter bit his bottom lips. He wrung his hands together. Then he slowly went to Ash until they stood right in front of each other. “But... oh, Ash.” Peter began to chew on his thumbnail until Ash gently moved it out of his mouth. “Once... once I heard...” He looked down at his feet. “I’m afraid that if Papa’s not around, maybe those other people will want to take me. The lady.... the lady... she liked me to call her... I heard someone call her Madam Shehata, once. She said she was gonna buy me from Papa.” Peter wrapped his arms around himself. “She was gonna buy me and keep me and I don’t want to. I don’t want to go to her. I’m scared. Papa’s gone, so she might just come and take me. Maybe someone else will, too. Maybe they’ll take you because Papa’s not here to protect us.” He looked up just enough to look at Ash. “I don’t want to get bought so if I think if I help you tell about those people then no one will take us away. Right?”

Before Ash could say anything, J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “If I may interrupt everyone’s afternoon, Mister Scott has arrived.”

Ash told Peter. “I will make sure none of those people ever hurt you! I will protect you!”

“But Eiji said I didn’t do anything wrong. J.A.R.V.I.S. said bad things were done to me, but I didn’t do bad things. If I didn’t do bad things, then why don’t you want me to talk about it? I don’t understand. Is it bad if I talk about what happened?”

Ash’s face twisted. “No. No, it’s not bad and you can totally talk if you want to. And I’ll be right here. But if you get scared and you want to stop, then you just say so, and everything stops.” He looked around the room with a hard look on his face. “Got it?”

“Of course.” Phil answered, immediately. “You two boys are perfectly safe here.” He smiled at Peter and hoped it was enough reassurance. “No one’s going to hurt you or take you from here.”

The tension in the room was very obvious when Mister Scott walked in, but, true to what Max had said, Mister Scott seemed to be used to such things and didn’t even seem to notice it. He wasn’t much like lawyers Phil had met working for S.H.I.E.L.D. or living with Tony, but Mister Scott did seem suited to his profession because Peter didn’t seem a bit afraid of him. Even Ash seemed to like Mister Scott. The minute he walked in, the tension began to ease away.

“I think we’ll make ourselves scarce.” Tony, as tactful as ever when it came to delicate situations, excused himself and everyone who didn’t actually need to be there. Before he left the room, Tony said to Jessica, “We’ll get together later and talk more about that little ‘matter’. Get it all worked out before supper.”

Jessica shook his hand, looking very satisfied, before she led Michael, as well as Eiji and Ibe-san, out of the room. Ash stayed with Peter, of course, as did Max and Phil.

Mister Scott was very good with Peter. He kept his voice soft and the questions easy. He asked Peter about his favorite color, if he liked singing. He asked how Peter had liked staying with The Avengers. Then calmly asked how Peter had come to be with The Avengers. And in that calm, easy manner, he gently coaxed answers from Peter. It seemed to be going well. 

At one point, Mister Scott paused to consult the notes on his note pad and Peter, without prompting, said, “Papa Dino said me and Ash looked pretty together.”

There was a long, dreadful silence.

Ash blushed, a faint tinge of pink across the bridge of his nose and onto his cheeks, but otherwise his expression was unchanged - as if he didn’t care.

Mister Scott didn’t seem at all phased and kept his attention fully on Peter. “I see. Do you want to tell me more about that? Did Mister Golzine make you do anything with Ash that you didn’t like or anything that made you uncomfortable?”

The implication was sickening. Phil honestly hadn’t considered that the victims of Club Cod might have been forced to hurt each other. That Ash and Peter, already so wounded, might have been made to hurt each other. But, from what he’d learned about Golzine, he should have anticipated such a possibility.

Peter’s smile faltered a little. “Uncomfortable? Ash is nice to me.”

“Never did anything like that,” Ash growled out. “Dino talked about it, threatened it a few times, but it never happened.”

Peter’s smile brightened, again. He told Mister Scott, “I like Ash. He’s nice to me. He doesn’t want to hurt me. And sometimes, if we’re really good, Papa Dino lets Ash stay with me after work so we can cuddle and Ash’s hugs are warm.” He got to his feet and went to sit next to Ash. He leaned against Ash until he’d put almost all his weight on him. “I want Ash to be safe. Are you really gonna stop the mad people from hurting us?”

“I will do my absolute best.” Mister Scott’s smile was soft and tender, like hot stew on a cold winter night. “And I don’t have to do it alone.” Mister Scott turned his eyes to Ash. “I have recently picked up a great many assistants as Mister Stark has kindly offered his entirely legal department to help out in any way that I might need. I have to say, it’s almost overwhelming.”

Phil said, “I hope Tony isn’t being too pushy. He really is trying to help you.”

“Oh, I don’t mind in the slightest. Believe me - I’ve never handled a case like this. I’m normally more involved with dividing up assets and child custody, so having more experienced help is wonderful.” He looked back at Ash. “I’m surprised you trusted me with this.”

Ash answered, without hesitation, “I wouldn’t trust anyone else to be my lawyer.” 

Peter tugged on Ash’s sleeve. “Hey, Ash?”

“Yeah?”

“Is Papa really dead?”

It wasn’t the first time Peter had asked. It was like he couldn’t quite believe it, as if the impossible had happened.

“Yeah,” Ash answered. “He’s really dead.”

“I don’t understand.”

“He’s gone. Forever.”

Peter’s eyebrows drew together and he took hold of Ash’s hand. “Okay. Okay, right. Okay.”

“Don’t look so worried.” Ash ruffled Peter’s hair. “I promise - I’ll make sure you have a nice home.”

After that, things went very smoothly. Peter happily told Mister Scott everything he knew, answered every question put to him without any apparent shyness about what he was talking about even with the audience. ‘Ash was right,’ Phil thought as he sat at the kitchen table with Max in an effort to stay close in case help was needed while being as unobtrusive as possible. ‘He doesn’t know. Peter really doesn’t know how mistreated he was. Whoever ends up taking care of him will have to be supremely protective or he’ll be hurt again and again. There are too many people who would be happy to take advantage of him.’

A few minutes later, Ash walked casually over and sat at the table with Phil and Max. He kept his eyes on Peter, but said, “As soon as this is over, I’m going to go see Griffin.” 

In Bruce’s Lab-  
Doctor Bruce Banner-

He had been working hard on his new D.N.A. testing process. While it was hard going, he had great hopes for the results and, so far, he was not disappointed. He’d been in the lab he and Tony shared for quite some time, long enough that J.A.R.V.I.S. had reminded him to eat twice and was starting to make noises about Bruce going to get some sleep.

In his white-lab coat, Bruce sat at the large table in the middle of the lab, studying each result of the D.N.A. experiment his team mates and current house guests had volunteered to help with. With his glasses on, he read the results of each person carefully and was very pleased by what he saw. Some of the results were expected and some were a surprise, but the fact was that everything was working out very well and he was pleased. 

Then he saw three results that were shockingly unexpected.

So he reran the test, but came out with the same result. He did it a third time and, while he was waiting for the result of that test, he began to work on some of the other samples. He really was very lucky that his team mates had been willing to help him, especially as not one of them had any reason to want to be experimented on and Bruce did feel rather uncomfortably like he was experimenting on people and that only brought up thoughts of General Ross and Bruce had to take a short break at that point.

“J.A.R.V.I.S., will you please check my calculations for me?”

“You don’t normally doubt your work.”

“No, but this can’t be right.”

A moment passed. “Your calculations are correct, Bruce. There is no mistake that I can detect.”

Frowning, Bruce put one paper with the test results for a person on the table in front of him. Then he put a second paper with the test results for another person next to it. Finally, he put the third test results down. For more than ten minutes, he studied those three papers. Finally, he said, “J.A.R.V.I.S., will you please ask Natasha, Mrs. Glenreed, and Ash to come see me? Tell them to bring anyone they need to for support because...” Bruce’s voice trailed away momentarily. “Because this is big. Please, ask Phil to come, too.” He had absolutely no idea how anyone was going to react.

Phil-

Phil shook Mister Scott’s hand as he got ready to leave. Peter was back to playing on the floor of the common room without a care in the world while Ash sat near by, deep in thought. Max offered to walk Mister Scott out and the minute the door was closed behind them, Ash said to Phil, “You said Peter was safe here. You going to live up to your word?”

“I always try.”

“Right.” Ash nodded, decisively. “I know you only agreed to give my people protective custody because of me, but if anything happens to me, will you keep them all safe until this blows over? Everyone?”

“What are you talking about?”

Ash patted Peter on the top of the head. “Nothing. Look, I want to go see Griffin, now. It won’t take me long and - ”

“Phil,” J.A.R.V.I.S. interrupted. “Bruce has requested that you go to his lab. He has also asked that Mrs. Glenreed and Natasha go to the lab and bring someone they feel comfortable with. Ash, he would like to see you, as well. Natasha has asked Clint to go with her and is on her way.”

“Me?” Ash said, with a frown. “Why does he want to see me?”

“I believe that is best for him to say. Would you like to bring someone for support?”

“I can take bad news standing on my own.”

Two minutes later, after Ibe-san had been asked to mind Peter and Michael, Phil and Ash walked into the lab Bruce shared with Tony. Clint and Natasha were already there, with Natasha sitting across from Bruce at the table that served as his desk as Clint stood behind her. Clint was clearly worried and even Natasha showed some signs of worry. Bruce didn’t call meetings. He never did. They waited a few minutes before Max and Jessica came in. Phil stayed standing while Max and Jessica sat. Ash stood behind them, his arms crossed.

Bruce rubbed the back of his neck. “This isn’t bad news. Not really. Look, I did a D.N.A. test with the samples everyone gave me and I have stumbled across a rather... incredible coincidence. If this this right. My testing method is new and this is the first real test. It could be wrong. In fact, the chances of this being right are so astronomical that I hesitate to even mention this, but I’ve run the test three times and it keeps coming up with the same result.” As he spoke, Bruce kept the palms of his hands on the desk that separated him from his guests.

“Bruce,” Natasha said. “Just tell us.”

Bruce took a deep breath. “I think you and Mrs. Glenreed are sisters.”

The two women looked at each other and then back at Bruce.

“If my data is correct...”

Phil knew that Bruce was almost always correct when it came to his research.

“...then it seems that you two are full-blood sisters.”

“I had sisters,” Jessica said, faintly. She took Max’s hand. “My little sister was kidnapped when she was very young. My older sister ran off when she was a teenager and I never saw either of them, again. I thought...” She slowly turned to look at Natasha, her eyes shiny with tears. “I thought they were both dead.”

Natasha said nothing. She was outwardly calm and moved so that her hands were folded on her lap. “I... I don’t remember anything before... before.”

Clint put his hands on Natasha’s shoulders.

Bruce ran a hand over his hair and shuffled the papers in front of him. “Right. Okay. Now, Mrs. Glenreed, you said you had another sister? You never saw her after she left home?”

“No. She was badly affected when our youngest sister went missing. She never really got over it.”

“And do you have any other siblings? Any brothers?”

“No. I don’t even have any cousins.”

“Then I think I may have some answers for you, because it seems you have another relative.” Bruce’s eyes shifted to Ash. “Ash, it seems that Mrs. Glenreed and Natasha are your aunts. It’s my theory that when Mrs. Glenreed’s older sister left home, she eventually met with your father. What do you know about your mother?”

“Nothing.” Ash’s hands were balled into fists and he didn’t look at either Jessica or Natasha. “She messed around with my dad and got pregnant. She left just after I was born. I never even saw a picture of her. I don’t think my dad ever once said her name. Look, how sure of this are you?”

Bruce gave a helpless shrug. “As I said, this is a new process. It looks right, but there may still be bugs to work out of the system. Maybe there was some contamination. Maybe there was human error. If you would all agree to it, I would like to have new samples independently tested, just in case.”

Natasha was the first to nod. “Of course. Whatever you think is best.”

Jessica scowled down at her lap. Her mouth was pressed tightly together and her eyes fairly blazed. “If I had known... Ash, if I had known I had a nephew...” Then she took a breath and looked at Bruce. “Go ahead and do whatever tests need to be done. I want to know.” She turned around to look up at Ash. “If I had known, I’d have come for you. I would have gotten you years ago.”

Ash looked at Jessica, then at Natasha, and finally at Bruce. “I want to see your research. All your data. Until then, it’s just a guess!”

Bruce had such a compassionate look on his face that Phil wasn’t entirely sure Ash appreciated. “Of course. I’ll show you everything.”

Phil, at a loss for words, moved around the table so he could look at them - Natasha, Jessica, and Ash. Seeing them like that, all together, and it was impossible to miss the resemblance. Phil had noted the resemblance between Ash and Natasha, earlier, but it didn’t really strike home until he stood there and really thought about it. All three had the same shaped face, the same nose, the same sharp eyes. Ash and Jessica had hair that was almost exactly the same color and if Natasha had been blonde, she could almost be thought to be Jessica’s twin.

“I didn’t see it before,” Clint said, sounding shocked. “It’s like looking at a family portrait. What’s wrong with my eyes?”

“Nothing,” Phil assured him. He really should have guessed and the guilt of that was sour. He was supposed to take care of his people and, apparently, he hadn’t looked for Natasha’s family well enough. He had just accepted that she had no family when he’d first interviewed her and she’d told him she didn’t remember any family. He had, naturally, done a cursory investigation, but when it hadn’t turned up anything, he’d stopped looking. He shouldn’t have. He should have looked further, deeper.

Max laughed. “Who would have thought it? Damn!” He looked at Ash with astonishment. “I even said how much you remind me of Jessica and I never guessed!”

“Laugh it up,” Ash told Max. “But while you do, just think about the fact that you’re practically Griff’s uncle.”

And Max stopped laughing. “Oh... that’s weird.” Then he shrugged. “Never mind. The fact is that I’m your uncle.”

Jessica leaned back in her chair and a terrible look settled in her eyes. “I would like to have a long talk with Mister Jim Callenreese about how he treats his son.”

Natasha’s expression didn’t change. “I think I may join you for that discussion.” Then she gave both Jessica and Ash a quick glance out of the corner of her eyes, hardly moving her head to look at them. “I have never had family.”

“Well, you have some now. A sister, a brother-in-law, and two nephews.”

“MAYBE two nephews.” Ash stood up, all tense with anger, though Phil seriously doubted that any of it was aimed at anyone in the room. In fact, he wasn’t sure Ash had any target at all for his anger - he was just angry. “I want to see the data. I want to see it for myself before I believe anything.” Then he rolled his eyes at Jessica. “And leave my dad alone. It’s not worth the drama.”

“I think it is.”

Before any more drama could be stirred up, Phil said, “Thank you, Bruce. If you wouldn’t mind having that independent source double-check your findings, I’m sure that will be a great comfort to everyone. In the meantime, we have an appointment to keep.” He looked over at Ash. “You did still want to see Griffin today, didn’t you?”

At Golzine’s Mansion-  
Blanca-

Blanca found no one in Golzine’s mansion, but there were a few little signs that someone had been there recently. There were signs of a fight. Two people, brawling. Paint scraped off a wall, a broken chair. A small amount of blood staining the carpet. He knelt down and lightly touched the blood with the tip of a finger. It was dry. 

‘Gregory was here,’ he thought, sure of his deduction. ‘Who else would it be? Random people up to no good would have stolen everything they could find, but there was still money sitting on Golzine’s desk. So this was Gregory.’ But he didn’t know who the other person had been.

He left the mansion and found a few footprints leading away from the mansion. He walked slowly around the mansion and found, by one window, a place where someone had obviously been crouching under a window. There was no other evidence to be found at the mansion. 

There were two different sets of footprints, two different sized feet.

He followed the footprints down the street for quite some distance until he found a car parked just off the road. It was concealed well enough that most people passing by wouldn’t find it, but, in such a neighborhood, finding such a thing did raise Blanca’s curiosity. He took note of the location of the car and moved on. The trail of footprints went on a little further until the trail turned and went into the forest.

Blanca continued to follow where his prey led him and, once in the forest, he was pleased to see the obvious clues his prey had left for him : broken twigs, disturbed earth, a torn piece of fabric hanging on a small bush... it was so clear and he followed it confidently.

To Be Continued...


	40. Grave Side

Chapter 40: Grave Side

In a Forest-  
Blanca-

It was midday when Blanca, on the trail of his quarry for more than an hour, easily moved through the forest. It wasn’t his most common hunting ground - most of the people he was sent after tended to feel more comfortable in a city, as if they thought being surrounded by people made them safe - but he did so love the forest. He always had. He found such peace in the amongst the trees and the sounds of small animals running around and birds singing to one another. He loved the fresh, clean air and sitting by a noisy little stream. He loved not being surrounded by people who stared at his height or his face. In his training days, he had eagerly anticipated the wilderness training exercises that would normally begin with being taken several miles into a deep forest and being told to make his way back to headquarters. Hours of solitude... how he’d loved it!

Having obliging people around did come in useful at times, however. He’d gotten a phone call from Yut-Lung, earlier. 

As he was in the middle of his job, Blanca had nearly ignored the phone call, but Ash had said he was going to start his own hunt for Gregory the last time Blanca had spoken to him and if Ash was having trouble, then Blanca wanted to know. Ash had been recently injured, though it wasn’t what Blanca would consider a terrible injury and he did have a safe and comfortable place to recuperate with The Avengers.

‘With Natasha.’ The thought settled over Blanca’s mind. He had to shake that thought away because he couldn’t afford to be distracted. She had survived and was surrounded by friends. He couldn’t ask for more for her.

A glance at his phone showed that it wasn’t Ash who was calling, but Yut-Lung. “Your highness, I am rather occupied at the moment.”

“I recently had a phone call from someone looking for you.”

“A lot of people seem to be looking for me, lately. Was this person from HYDRA, too?”

“I expect so. He said he knows where Gregory is and is willing to give him to you as an incentive to speak with him.”

“And do you think he was honest?”

“Who knows? He hinted strongly that I had something to do with my brothers’ deaths so I think he knows more than is strictly good for him. He said that if I don’t help him and, therefore give Gregory to you, then Gregory will let my crimes be known. He called himself Mister Snow. Do you know him?”

“It doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Well, I have his phone number if you want to talk to him. I will tell you that Gregory’s death would make me very happy.”

“So you’re not actually worried about your brotherly activities being brought to light?”

Yut-Lung sniffed, disdainfully. “Hardly. It would be almost impossible to prove anything at this point and who would believe him? So, what do you want to do with this information? If you don’t want to talk to him, I’m going to call him back and tell him to meet me somewhere so I can kill him.”

Blanca frowned at his phone. “I wish you wouldn’t take killing so lightly.”

“Why?”

Blanca sighed. “Because I wish better for you.”

Yut-Lung laughed. “If you’re done with the joking, I need an answer. If you don’t want this Mister Snow person then I want him dead. He sounds like trouble and I have enough to deal with on my plate. Oh!” His voice suddenly brightened. “I didn’t tell you, but I have Sing with me, now. I thought the hospital might be a little too much risk in his condition. If HYRDA is running around causing problems and they find out he’s still alive, then I think he’ll be safer hidden away, so if you want to see him come to my place. He looks terrible. Nadia Wong is also staying with me for a time, so Ash may call you to complain if he finds out.”

“You sound entirely too pleased about making him upset.”

“I’m a petty person and he made Sing cry. Now, do you want this fool’s phone number or do I get to be creative with my flowers?”

‘Creative with my flowers’ invariably meant that he would poison the mysterious Mister Snow and while anyone who wanted to hire Blanca was probably up to no good and should be killed, if Blanca didn’t find any trace of Gregory at Golzine’s mansion, it might be nice to have someone around who knew where he was. It might also be nice to find out how, exactly, Mister Snow knew that Blanca was looking for Gregory. He didn’t exactly go out of his way to advertise what he was doing. So Blanca had told Yut-Lung, “Why don’t you leave him alone for the time being and I’ll deal with him later. I really don’t like you killing people. You shouldn’t have to do that.”

Yut-Lung was quiet for a few minutes and Blanca could imagine him gaping at the phone. Then he snapped, “Don’t be so sentimental. I’ll let him live but only because he might be useful.” And then hung up without another word.

Luckily, Blanca had found signs that Gregory had been at Golzine’s mansion and found a clear trail leading to him. 

In the forest, as he followed that trail, he noticed a scuff on the ground and he knelt down to examine it. The leaf litter that covered the forest floor like a thick carpet had been disturbed and it was clear to Blanca that someone’s foot had slipped and the toe of their shoe had dragged against the ground a little. It was an excellent sign that he was still on the correct path.

Of course, it was possible that he wasn’t following Gregory at all, but he could think of few other people who would have been at Golzine’s mansion. And there was the question of who the other person was, because Blanca was dead certain that he was, indeed, following two people. He smiled. His job wasn’t a good one, killing people for pay could never be considered ‘good’, but he did take a good deal of satisfaction in knowing that he was the best at what he did.

He imagined Ash in the forest, hunting an unsuspecting Gregory and almost laughed. He had taken Ash into the wilderness, once.

“What are we doing out here?” Ash had asked. At fourteen, Ash had often been moody, but Blanca had been told that many teenagers were and that it was nothing to worry about. He found it odd. He didn’t remember being in a temper at that age, but then his trainers wouldn’t have found it nearly so amusing as Golzine did. Golzine took a great deal of amusement in Ash’s displays of minor rebellion and temper, as if he relished the idea that he and only he could control Ash.

Blanca saw it entirely differently. He saw Ash growing and struggling, getting stronger and smarter and ready to burst out of his cage. Blanca had been enthusiastic and proud to be the one to give Ash the tools to grow stronger, and he wondered if his trainers had been proud to make him so dangerous.

“We are out here,” Blanca had answered. “Because I am to handle your training and I’ve decided that you need more training in wilderness survival.”

He had taught Ash to build a fire and how to find shelter. He had taught him how to find water and about edible plants. They had seen an eagle. Ash had smiled and, once, outright laughed. It had been an altogether lovely weekend. Like everything else, Ash had taken to the lessons very well, though he had accepted going back to the mansion with resignation when Monday morning had rolled around. “Thanks for taking me camping, Blanca.”

“Camping? That was education. I told you - it was wilderness survival. You may need it in your future and I will be loath to leave your side if you don’t know everything possible about surviving.”

Ash rolled his eyes and got back into the car. “Right. Sure. I still say it was a camping trip. It was cool, too.” Then he paused. “Don’t tell Dino I liked it. Tell him I really hated it. If I ever get away, maybe I can hide out in the wilderness while he has his people searching the city if he thinks I didn’t like going out there with you.”

And though Ash’s good humor quickly dulled the closer they got to the mansion , Blanca did understand that he’d enjoyed the lessons. That was good. If he liked it, he would surely get good at it. He never had told Golzine that Ash had enjoyed the forest.

Elsewhere-  
Sitwell-

Sitwell had followed Gregory through the forest and out of it. Eventually, after Gregory had hitched a lift and Sitwell had hot wired a conveniently nearby car to follow him, he watched as Gregory got out of the car he’d hitchhiked in at the edge of New York City. There, he started walking. Sitwell parked his car and straightened himself out as much as he could after a night going through a forest, before he got out of the car and took a chance.

“Mister Dufort.”

Gregory stopped walking and turned around very slowly. He didn’t immediately attack, so Sitwell took that as a promising sign.

“We got off on the wrong foot and I chose my words badly. I apologize. I didn’t realize how much killing Ash Lynx meant to you.”

“I’m going to make him hurt.”

“Yes. I’m sure you will. What I want to say is that I wouldn’t have threatened him if I’d known how important killing him is to you. I do want the Banana Fish, but if you only need it to shoot Ash Lynx with, then why don’t you give me the research information? Everything that was in the metal suitcase. It will be even more valuable to me than the sample you have. If you have a sample.” Because he still didn’t even know that there was a sample, it was only a guess that he had some of it. “What would you want in this exchange, because I can do it. You are looking to get accused of unsavory business when Ash testifies in court. I could easily get you out of the country to start a new life.”

“You are persistent,” Gregory said, coldly. Then, he started to smile. “Blanca is still out there, looking to protect his little cub. You want that research? You can come with me and watch my back. If you see Blanca - kill him. If he kills me before I get Ash, then you won’t get that research. If I get Ash, I’ll give you the Banana Fish AND the research that went into making it.” He took a gun from a holster at his side. “You’re going to stay a good ten feet away from me while we walk. I don’t need any surprises from you. You get close and I’ll kill you.”

Sitwell had to consider the value of the Banana Fish and the research against the potential use Ash Lynx would be to HYRDA. Finally, he nodded. “We have a deal.” 

The Avengers’ Tower-  
Steve-

J.A.R.V.I.S. announced, “Phil has asked that everyone gather in his apartment for a meeting.”

Steve, where he was still sitting at the kitchen table, looked up. His eyes were sore from pouring over all the paperwork. “What’s going on?”

“He has news to share that would be best done in person.”

“I see. Thank you, J.A.R.V.I.S., and please tell Phil I’ll be right there.” He had to clean up his mess, first. There were so many papers. So many notes, each one a tiny clue in the journey the Banana Fish drug had taken through the U.S. Marines overseas. It was horrible, the longer he studied it. One paper on the table, a map of the part of the world where Griffin Callenreese had been stationed when he’d killed his own people, was like a little nightmare for Steve. He tucked it into a folder with all his other papers and hurried to go meet with the others.

The minute he walked in to Phil’s apartment, he could feel the tension. Natasha stood by a wall, her face impassive, but a tense look in her eyes, and Clint hovered nearby. It was on the tip of Steve’s tongue to urge Natasha to sit and rest after being so badly injured, but he was reasonably certain that Clint would have already tried and if Natasha wasn’t going to listen to Clint, then she certainly wasn’t going to listen to Steve.

“Everyone sit, please,” Phil said. “I have news that Natasha has asked me to share with all of you. Bruce,” he gestured to where Bruce, looking uncomfortable and somewhat guilty, sat on the far end of the sofa from where Steve was. “Ran the D.N.A. tests he told us about and it turns out that we have the single most unlikely coincidence in the history of mankind. It turns out that our guest, Jessica, is Natasha’s sister. On top of that, Ash is Natasha’s nephew.”

Tony started to snicker.

“It’s not funny!” Bruce protested. Hunched over and looking like he was trying not to be seen, he turned to Natasha. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or bring up bad memories. I thought you should know the truth. And it might not be the truth - I still have to get it double-checked. I didn’t want to cause you any trouble.”

“Of course you didn’t.” Natasha raised an eyebrow at Bruce. “It is always useful to know the truth. I will adapt.”

“Well, I sort of think it’s funny,” Tony laughed, again. “Not that you have family, because that’s really pretty amazing,” he smiled at Natasha as he strolled passed her. “But just that your relatives happened to be our house guests. Out of all the people on Earth, the ones who show up on our doorstep are family. The odds are fantastic!”

“Coincidences do happen,” Steve said.

“Not often. In fact, if I were a bit more cynical, I’d think this was some elaborate ruse put on by HYDRA to get their people in here. But I think if that was the plan, they’d have started out with that story and not hope that Bruce would discover it by a random chance. I like them.”

Phil went on to tell them all about the meeting that had taken place when Bruce had told all parties involved what his testing had uncovered. He told them what Jessica had said about her sisters and how it was entirely probable that Jessica and Natasha’s eldest sister was Ash’s mother, but that she hadn’t been seen in years. “I hope I didn’t worry anyone by calling this meeting, but Natasha wanted everyone to know and it seemed best to tell everyone all at once.”

Steve beamed, so happy for Natasha even though she didn’t seem entirely sure what to feel. To have family was more than a weird coincidence - it was a miracle. He liked the Glenreed’s and he truly believed they would be good for Natasha if she decided to let them into her life. She might not. None of their team had very safe lives and Natasha might decide that it would be best to keep them at arm’s reach. Steve hoped not because Natasha deserved to have a lot of people to care for her, but he wouldn’t interfere. It was her choice, after all.

Clint didn’t have the same conviction and piped up, “I still think you should go on a family outing or something to get to know them properly. I know you don’t like socializing, but it doesn’t have to be anything big. Maybe go out to dinner or something - just the three of you.”

“I will think about it,” Natasha said.

Natasha didn’t look entirely happy, but she was never happy when everyone’s attention was on her, so Steve spoke up, “If your announcement is finished, Phil, may I say something that has absolutely nothing to do with Natasha?”

“Please,” Natasha said, quickly. “I am tired of thinking about me.”

“Right.” Steve opened his folder with all his research and put it on Phil’s coffee table. He found the map and put it front and center for everyone to see. “I’ve been looking into the use of the Banana Fish drug in the military. I know I’m not usually very good at this sort of thing, but it’s important. So. Look.” He gestured to the map. It was liberally decorated with that little red dots. “Each dot is where Doctor Abraham Dawson - whom Ash said was responsible for making the Banana Fish and giving it to Dino Golzine - was stationed.”

“He sure got around,” Clint said, frowning. “He’s everywhere. What are the blue dots?” He pointed at two blue dots near one of the red dots. “There are a couple of them at every red dot.”

“The blue dots represented a suspicious death or a soldier going on a violent rampage. They might not all be victims, but I strongly suspect that many of them are.”

Phil picked up the map and studied it. He ran his fingers all over the map, touching each little blue dot. “Thank you, Steve. I know you put a lot of work into this.”

“There’s more to do. Later.”

He would work on it later because it was time to go to the veteran’s cemetery where Phil had arranged for Private Griffin Callenreese to be buried.

Peter and Michael would stay at The Tower with Ibe-san and J.A.R.V.I.S. because it was generally decided that neither of them needed the stress of that situation.

Steve took time to dress himself properly for such an occasion. He sat on his bed and polished his shoes, first, taking great care to make sure they were properly done. It took a while, but there were some situation in life that required care and visiting the grave of a fallen soldier was one of those situations as far as Steve was concerned. When his shoes were polished so well that he could see his face reflected on them, he set them aside and took his uniform out of the back of his closet where it usually was stored to keep it in good condition. He ironed the uniform, very careful to ensure it was perfect before he dressed. He polished the buttons and took care to look at himself in a mirror just to be sure nothing was forgotten or out of place. Then he combed his hair and shaved and, only when he was entirely certain that all was as it should be, he left his apartment and joined the others in the common room.

When he walked into the room, only Ash and Eiji were there and he came in just in time to hear Eiji say to Ash, 

“I will stay here, if you like. This should be private. For safety, you have to have your protectors there, but I will stay here so there won’t be so many people.”

“No!” Ash put his hands in his pockets and looked away from Eiji. “You don’t have to stay behind. I’d like you there.”

Eiji smiled and it was the end of the discussion. Such a fast moment - blink and it was gone - but Steve was happy to see it. Those two made no secret of how much they meant to each other.

After only a moment, the common room was filled with everyone who was going to the cemetery. Phil wore his uniform, just as proudly as Steve wore his, and everyone else wore their best, clearly conscious of the gravity of the day.

They went in one of Tony’s vehicles as it seemed safer than walking. There had already been too many close calls with Ash’s life. The ride there was quiet and the atmosphere was heavy.

Once at the graveyard, Phil led everyone to where Griffin was buried. He was near the back, in the shade of a maple tree. The ground was freshly turned, of course, but soon there would be grass growing over it. Steve couldn’t help but look at the gravestone with anger and pity for Griffin Callenreese. It seemed poor thanks for the ten years of suffering. Locked away in a filthy, cold hospital where he was almost entirely neglected, his family not even given the respect of being told where he was or what had happened to him... and all because he’d tried to stop his fellow soldiers from being hurt. At least there was the hope that when the court proceedings began for the Club Cod matter that the story of what had happened to Private Callenreese would come forward and his name could be honored.

Max had his arm around his wife. “You’d have liked him,” Max told her. “Everyone liked Griffin. He was a real sweetheart. Mild and gentle. You’d have had him blushing like a tomato.” He laughed even as he sniffed and rubbed his teary eyes.

“I’m sure I would have been just as fond of him as you are.” Jessica hugged Max and listened when he told her more about Griffin.

Phil said nothing. He stood at attention and bowed his head. They had been friends and Phil, like Steve, had lost many friends to war. It was not new, it was always painful to stand at the grave of someone you cared for.

Ash went down on his knees.

Steve stepped away. There was no need to intrude. The rest of The Avengers stayed away from the grave, discretely watching the area for trouble so that the people who’d known Griffin could have peace while they grieved.

Ash-

The gravestone was simple. There was a name - Griffin Callenreese - along with the dates of his life. That was it. Nothing extra, nothing. And Griff was under the ground. Weird. He’d known that Griffin had died ages ago, but he hadn’t really had time to think about Griff being buried. He’d cried for Griffin, on that hot day when Max had dragged him out of the river and taken him, Eiji, Shorter, and Ibe-san back to his hideout to rest and heal. He’d gone up to the rooftop and cried, alone, for the brother who’d never come home and he’d never see, again.

He’d waited so long to finally say ‘goodbye’ and suddenly he didn’t have any words. Not a single word he could say out loud. Ash licked his suddenly dry lips and closed his eyes. ‘I miss you. I love you.’ There were other things he’d wanted to say. He’d wanted to apologize for having a tantrum when Griff had left because he understood, now, that it had been hard for Griff, too. He’d wanted to say that he understood why Griff had chosen to join up, that it had been for Ash’s benefit and that he was grateful to have been so loved. He couldn’t find the words. So he stayed simple with, ‘I really wish you were still here.’

Steve-

Steve, like the rest of the team, stayed close enough to Ash and the Glenreed’s to provide protection, but it was hard for Steve to imagine anyone attacking in a cemetery, even though he knew how terrible some people were. So he stood there, with his hat in his hands, while Ash knelt at his brother’s grave side and he wished he’d known Griffin Callenreese.

Steve bowed his head and quietly whispered a prayer for not only Griffin, but for all the fallen soldiers - the people who’d fought and fallen, people who’d been honored, and people who’d been forgotten - and when he was done, he discretely took out a small slip of paper from his pocket. There were two names on the paper.

“What are you doing?” Natasha, suddenly at Steve’s side, asked.

He showed her the names. “I’ve been doing a little research. I think these people are here.”

Natasha looked at the paper, then glanced at Ash. “Why are we looking for them?”

“They both suffered sever breakdowns on the battlefield within two weeks of Griffin Callenreese’s breakdown. Both of these soldiers, without provocation, murdered several people in their units. The difference is that these two soldiers then killed themselves - one of them shot himself in the head while the other threw herself off a rooftop. I think the only reason Private Callenreese survived so long was because Max shot him and he couldn’t kill himself.”

Natasha took another look at the paper, then started to look on the gravestones. “They are two of the blue dots on your map.”

“Once Ash gave us the name of Doctor Dawson, it wasn’t too hard to find the names of the soldiers who’d died. It was harder to find out what had happened to their bodies. Their families should know. They should know that these people were victims, not murderers. There’s not much I can do to help in all this, but their names should be cleared.”

Steve stopped walking and turned to face where Ash still knelt at his brother’s side. Eiji knelt next to Ash while Max and Jessica stood behind them. He looked at Natasha out of the corner of his eye. “How are you doing? It’s been a big day for you.”

“I’m not sure how I should feel in this situation. I don’t remember having family. I think I should, but I don’t. I don’t know how to have family. What am I supposed to do with them? I think Jessica was pleased with the news, but Ash... did not seem so happy.” She let it drop at that.

Steve folded the paper and put it back in his pocket. “Well, it is a big shock. I’m sure you’ll find something to bond over.”

“I was eleven the first time I killed someone and twelve the first time I was raped by one of my trainers.” She turned to stare out at the forest bordering one edge of the cemetery. “I think my past is not something he will be comfortable bonding over and it is nothing I wish to burden anyone with. I have nothing good to offer him.”

And Steve, not for the first time, regretted his lack of education because he was sure that if he had the right words, he’d know how to tell Natasha that she had everything to offer Ash. She could offer him family and the consistent support that she gave all the people she cared for. She could show Ash that she had survived her childhood and grown to be a respected, loved person and use that as an example that he could do it, too. There was so much she could offer him. But he didn’t really know how to say it and thought if he tried, it would would somehow come out of his mouth wrong. So he gave her arm a gentle squeeze and said, “I think he’s very lucky to have you for an aunt.”

She looked doubtful managed a smile. “Thank you. Let’s find your soldiers.”

Another look at Ash showed that he still hadn’t moved. He was whispering to Eiji, but that was nothing new. So Steve took stock of everyone else and where they were. Phil noticed Steve looking and gave him a nod. He was near Ash and the Glenreed’s and would keep watch. So Steve started to move away to look at some of the gravestones, all the while staying alert for any possible threat. It didn’t take long. He found one of the soldiers and Natasha found the other. Steve made a note on his paper. If Ash and his father hadn’t known where Griffin was being kept after his exposure to the Banana Fish, then it was entirely likely that these soldiers’ families had no idea where they were buried, either. If he accomplished nothing else, then he could at least give some closure to two families.

Steve looked back at Ash just in time to see him hand something to Eiji, who slipped it in his pocket. The two whispered to each other.

Ash-

Eiji knelt next to him beside Griff, even though Ash knew it still hurt Eiji to move around like that. He gently bumped a shoulder against Ash’s. “You’re planning something,” he whispered.

“Hush,” Ash told him. “You want everyone to hear?” He wasn’t surprised Eiji had guessed. He knew Ash too well. But it was good to have someone know. So he made sure Max wasn’t watching and took a paper out of his pocket. It was the adoption paper Max and Jessica had given him. He had signed it after talking to Blanca, but still couldn’t make himself talk about it. He had the stupid fear that if he gave it to Max, it would just turn out to be a joke even though he knew Max wasn’t cruel. So he’d signed it and kept it.

Eiji took the paper and tucked it carefully in his pocket. “You tell me what’s going on,” Eiji told Ash. “I know that look in your eye - you have something up your sleeve.”

Ash folded his hands. He’d been raised Catholic - though that sort of thing hadn’t had a great impact on his life since he’d left Cape Cod - and prayer did give him comfort. “Griff used to take me to church every Sunday, rain or shine. It was important. He did a lot of important stuff with me. He loved me. And now,” Ash reached down and brushed his fingers against the freshly turned earth. “He’s here. I don’t know where Shorter is.” And if that wasn’t the most terrible thing. He’d burned Shorter’s body after Dino and Dawson had poisoned him with the Banana Fish, but the fire hadn’t taken all of Shorter and he hadn’t been able to see to it that Shorter got a decent burial. Even now, he couldn’t even tell Nadia where her little brother was. “This won’t happen again.” He wasn’t at all surprised by the understanding look on Eiji’s face because Eiji understood him better than anyone. “Trust me?”

“Always. Remember - I am on your side. What do you need me to do?”

And Ash was reminded why he was so very, very lucky to have Eiji in his life. “Be safe. Just be safe.”

“I want to help.”

“This is personal. Let me handle this without arguing. Please?”

“Yes. But only if you be safe, too.”

With that reassurance and no promises at all, Ash stood up and announced, “I’m done. Everyone else can have their turn to say their ‘good-bye’s’.”

They stayed for less than twenty minutes before it was time to go back to The Tower and Ash knew it was time to make his move. He even had a good excuse. He kept quiet while they were driving until they drove passed a thrift store and he called out for Tony to pull over.

“You want to go shopping?” Max asked. “Now?”

“I promised to make Michael a green super-hero cape, didn’t I? I’m gonna go get a towel or an old shirt or something to make it out of.”

“I can do that, later,” Jessica said. “You don’t have to go shopping now.”

“I’m not gonna break my word to the kid. Pull over.” Tony did. He found a parking spot and, just as Ash had expected, everyone insisted on following him. That was why he’d picked that particular thrift store. It was crowded and had several exits. He had no doubt he’d be able to slip away. With his testimony recorded and knowing that Peter would be looked after, he was ready to go after Gregory and fight with everything he had to destroy the Banana Fish once and for all.

Gregory-

It was mere chance that Gregory saw Ash. He had been planning to go to The Avengers’ Tower and wait there, maybe use one of Ash’s little gang to lure him out. There was a skinny kid with a braid who’d be easy enough to kidnap and force him to call Ash for help. That would definitely lure Ash out of hiding. But, as he had been on his way to The Avengers’ Tower, with Sitwell trailing behind, he had actually seen Ash. There were people with him, but that didn’t matter. He was going into a thrift store.

He had been keeping to alleys to move through the city as the tranquilizer gun was sure to raise an alarm and it suited him well to stay concealed. Quickly as he could, Gregory raised the gun to his shoulder and took aim.

“If you’re planning to knock him out and kidnap him with that thing,” Sitwell said. “It won’t work. He’s surrounded by The Avengers and you’re no match for them. Best to use a bullet.”

“I don’t want him dead, yet. I want him to suffer.”

“Then that can be done more efficiently without shooting him in the street.” Sitwell’s voice sounded closer, but Gregory was so intent on watching for Ash that he hardly noticed. “Let me lure him away and you can torture him at your leisure.”

“There is nothing that can make him suffer as much as the Banana Fish.”

“Thank you for telling me what you have in that gun.” And a sharp piercing on his arm made Gregory hiss and jump away from Sitwell. Sitwell was holding a syringe. “That was a truth serum.” He smiled like a snake. “You’re no match for The Avengers or for me. You will tell me where the Banana Fish research is.”

Enraged, Gregory raised his gun over his head and swung it at Sitwell’s head, but Sitwell dodged away. He was too aware that he couldn’t shot the gun, he’d risk Ash escaping if he heard the gunshot. So he dropped it and charged Sitwell, instead. Sitwell stepped out of the way, but Gregory turned quickly and grabbed him. He wasn’t fast enough. A blow to the side of his head made him stagger and the tranquilizer gun with the Banana Fish loaded into it was snatched out his hand. He landed hard on the ground and when he looked up, Sitwell held the tranquilizer gun. Whatever the drug was that Gregory had been given took effect quickly. He suddenly got dizzy and he felt sick. He tried to get to his feet, but Sitwell easily pushed him back down.

“That stuff always works so well. Thank you for finally getting distracted enough to give me a chance to use it.” He shoved Gregory down a second time when Gregory tried, again, to get up. “Don’t move. Do you think I’d let you ruin that boy? He’s much too valuable.”

Gregory stared, then laughed. “Everyone thinks he’s valuable or useful and they always regret underestimating him.”

“I won’t waste him by mistreating him. I’m going to help him realize his potential.”

“You wouldn’t be the first to try.”

“It’s not really your business anymore, is it?” Sitwell squatted down in front of Gregory. “How did Golzine feel about Ash Lynx?”

“Loved him. Hated him. Adored him and idolized him. Put that brat on a pedestal and hungered to ruin him, to make him crawl like a worm and stand with Gods.” The words came out without Gregory meaning to say them. He seemed to have lost control of his mouth which was, undoubtedly, what Sitwell had intended with the truth serum.

“How do you feel about him?”

“Hate. He took my place. He took Papa’s love!” And he hadn’t meant to say that, either.

Sitwell chuckled. “I think that’s proof enough that the truth serum is working. So, tell me - is the Banana Fish in this gun?” He held up the tranquilizer gun.

“Yes.”

“And the research? Where are the research notes that were in that metal suitcase?”

“At Papa’s mansion. In the parlor.”

“Thank you.” Sitwell stood up. “You’ve been very...”

Gregory, despite the dizziness and sickness, lurched forward. He grabbed Sitwell’s ankle and yanked it forward, easily bringing Sitwell to the ground. Then he was on him. He started punching, over and over until there was blood on Sitwell’s face and he stopped moving. Breathing hard, Gregory took the tranquilizer gun. He didn’t see any damage from when Sitwell had fallen, even the little dart full of the last dose of the Banana Fish was intact. Though his head spun, Gregory went back to the entrance of the alley.

Ash left the thrift store and walked back onto the street, his protectors right behind him.

Gregory took aim.

Max-

Ash had tried to slip away, again. When Max suddenly couldn’t see Ash in the store, he realized immediately that Ash had decided to leave... again.

“Eiji, where is he?” Max said when he found Eiji.

Eiji, God love the boy, couldn’t lie to save his life and looked remarkably guilty when he did try. “He’s... around.”

“Damn it!” Max luckily found Ash when he was trying to creep out a back door and grabbed him by the arm. “Don’t you even think about it, young man!” He marched Ash back to the front of the store where Phil’s Avengers had been waiting for them. “You are going to get yourself killed! Don’t you even think about running off!” And he continued his lecture until they on the sidewalk outside the store.

“Will you give me a break?” Ash snapped. “I just wanted a minute alone. Jeezum Cripes.”

Max opened his mouth to say something else, but over Ash’s shoulder he saw a sparkle. It was light reflected off something glass or metal. Gregory. Gregory Dufort was there, no more than thirty feet away. The sparkle had come from light reflecting off what looked like a rifle that was aimed right at Ash’s back. Ash’s eyes suddenly widened as he seemed to realize something was wrong. He had great instincts, Max knew. The kid could tell if he was being watched. Ash started to turn, but, with very little thought, Max grabbed Ash by the arms and swung him around, putting himself between Ash and Gregory.

Pain. Sharp and terrible, a pain lance through his back and he knew he’d been shot. He’d been shot before, but this was different. It was like acid in his blood, racing painfully through his whole body.

Max fell.

To Be Continued...


	41. Danger

Chapter 41: Danger

Phil-

Phil waited, along with the rest of his team, near the front of the thrift store as Ash looked for something green to make a super hero cape out of for Michael. It was a sweet gesture and, at that point, Phil wasn’t at all surprised. It wasn’t hard at all to see that Ash had a soft spot for Michael and it was very likely that the emotional experience of visiting his big brother’s grave had merely reminded Ash that he was, in a way, a big brother himself and that Michael needed him. He kept a close eye on Natasha. She’d only recently been injured and he knew better than anyone that she tended to neglect her own health. Sitting on a gently used sofa that was marked for sale, she seemed well enough. He came to attention almost instantly when Clint, who truly lived up to the his code name of Hawkeye, suddenly stiffen. “Where’s Ash?”

Everyone stood a little straighter, as if it could give them a better view of the store - cluttered and disorganized as it was - but there was no sign of that bright blonde hair. Phil saw Max and Jessica and he saw Eiji, but there was no Ash. “Max!” He shouted it with no concern at all for the store clerk who gave him a decidedly annoyed frown. “Where’s Ash?”

And if that didn’t perk Max’s ears up like a guard dog. He looked around, called out once, then went to Eiji, who only shrugged. Phil would have to have a talk with Eiji. As loyal and trusting as he was with Ash, it possibly wasn’t the best idea to keep secrets if he knew that Ash was going to sneak off. 

The scare didn’t last more than a minute before Max stormed back to the front of the store, holding Ash by the arm. Apparently, Ash had tried to sneak out the back and Max wasn’t going to put up with it. He hauled Ash out of the store like a misbehaving child and began to lecture him.

Phil felt a few more hairs going gray. Ash didn’t seem to accept that he’d be safer if he stayed with them. “Let’s keep a closer eye on him,” Phil said to his team. “I don’t want him to feel like a prisoner, but he can’t just walk off without protection.”

Everyone else followed Max and Ash onto the sidewalk.

“He’s going to slip away, again,” Clint said. “He’s got a mission.”

Natasha stepped up to Phil’s other side. “He ate well before we left. I maintain that he is aware that food is fuel and he knows when he must eat if he is planning on exerting extra energy and - ” Natasha stopped talking and she reached for her gun. That, naturally, triggered Phil and Clint to pull their guns, but it was too late.

Max grabbed Ash by the arms and spun him around. Then Max jerked. His eyes flew open. He fell, slumping limply. Ash caught Max and tried to hold him up, but Max was a large man by anyone’s standards, and Ash was not. He locked his arms around Max and had to lowered him to the ground with some difficulty until they were both on their knees. The street cleared off at once the minute guns were drawn.

“Clint! Steve!” Phil snapped. “Go! Natasha, guard!” He gestured to Jessica and Eiji, both of whom had, of course, gone immediately to Max and Ash. Even in the heat of the moment, he wouldn’t risk Natasha when she’d gotten out of surgery such a short time ago. Even as Natasha took up a position near Jessica and Eiji, her gun drawn and ready, her eyes expertly roaming the immediate area for further threats. Without a word, Clint and Steve ran towards where the shot had surely come from, a nearby alley, and disappeared around the corner.

A shot, a friend falling... Phil’s heart felt like it was made of lead, like ice ran in his veins instead of blood because Max was down and how many other people had he seen killed so... so easily?

“Max!” Ash spoke very loudly. “Wake up! Can you hear me? Max!”

“Honey? Please, honey.” Jessica ran her hand over Max’s hair and wiped tears off her face with her free hand. “Open your eyes.”

Phil looked immediately at Max’s back to see what damage had been done, but there was no blood or bullet hole as he’d expected. There was a dart. “What...?” He pulled the dart out and held it up to look at it. When he did, Ash saw it.

“Banana Fish. Gregory... he...” Ash held Max tighter. “His eyes! Cover his eyes and ears! Now! Now!” There was such urgency and ferocious despair painted on his expression that Phil didn’t pause to ask questions or wonder.

Phil dropped the dart and put his hands over Max’s ears and Tony, who was also right with them, put his hands over Max’s eyes. And, just as Max was locked in to the awkward tangle of arm, his whole body stiffened. It was as if a jolt of electricity shot through his body. He stayed like that, stiff as a plank of wood, for a moment before he started to tremble. His whole body shook and then began to convulse with such terrible spasms that they could barely keep his eyes and ears covered because when someone with Max’s size and strength struggled, it ended up as a fight.

And then Max started to scream.

“It’s Banana Fish!” Ash shouted over Max’s voice. “Gregory went and shot him with Banana Fish. I know he did! Damn it! Damn it!” He kept holding onto Max until Jessica took Ash by the shoulders and pulled him and, even then, he struggled against her.

“Ash, let him lie down.” Jessica was crying, but she kept her hands on Ash’s shoulders. “Let Max lay down. They have him.”

Ash looked at Jessica, then growled at everyone in general, “Banana Fish is a... a kind of hypnosis drug. You get dosed with it and you can be convinced to do anything. When you do what you were told, you kill yourself. If he doesn’t get anything his brain can interpret as an order, maybe there’s a chance it won’t happen. I don’t know. I don’t know. I need my notes!” He very carefully helped Max, still shaking terribly, to lay down on his back while Phil and Tony were very careful not to move their hands for fear of losing what might be Max’s only hope.

When Max started to kick and flail his arms, Phil shouted, “Steve!”

At once, Steve and Clint came running back from where they’d gone to get Gregory. Steve quickly took stock of the situation as he raced to them and, without being told, got down on the ground with them and put his hands on Max’s shoulders to hold him still. Max still kicked furiously, but at least he couldn’t move and throw them off.

A harsh curse made Phil look back at Ash and Jessica. Ash still sat on the ground and there was such anger on his face that Phil believed, truly believed, that if Gregory had been there, Ash would have killed him without a second thought. Ash demanded, “Why? Why’d Max do that?! That idiot! I don’t want to be protected!”

“Oh, kid,” Jessica moved one of her hands and put it on the top of Ash’s head. “Kid, that what parents do for their kids.”

The anguished looked in Ash’s eyes was terrible, but there was no time to console him.

Max’s convulsions abruptly died and he lay there, panting for breath and sweating.

“I can try to put him in a coma,” Bruce said. “If we can get him back to The Tower, I have drugs that will do that easily enough, but I don’t know how it will affect him with the Banana Fish already in his system. It might not work. It could kill him.”

“He’s already dead,” Jessica sobbed. “The minute he got that Hell in him, he died! You can’t make this worse. Please! Do something! Anything!”

Bruce’s face stiffened with his determination. “Get him back to The Tower and to the infirmary, now!”

With a rush of noise, the Iron Man suit landed, obviously sent by J.A.R.V.I.S. and Tony said, “I’ll get Bruce back to get set up if the rest of you can get Max back. I can’t carry him and keep his eyes and ears covered.”

“We’ll get him back,” Phil said. He would not stand to see Max in that graveyard, buried next to Griffin. “Any sign of the shooter?”

Clint shook his head. “No. There was a struggle, some blood on the ground, but no one’s there now. Whoever was back there, they must have run. We did find a tranquilizer gun, though.”

Gregory-

Missed.

He missed the shot. 

His one shot, his only shot, and he had missed. 

There was no more Banana Fish and how could Papa ever be satisfied if Ash didn’t die in the most painful way possible? He missed. That journalist friend of Ash’s had gotten in the way. His eyes had been too sharp and he’d seen Gregory just in time, just as Gregory lined up his shot, and he put himself in the way, stealing justice from Papa. Gregory stared as the journalist - whatever his name was - fell. He saw Ash catch him and try to support the weight of a man almost three times his size. And he saw the pain on Ash’s face. Gregory’s anger at himself for missing the shot disappeared because surely THAT was justice. To see Ash suffer with the death of someone important to him was almost as good as having him dead. After all, Gregory had to suffer when Papa had died, so surely it was only right that Ash should suffer in the same way.

And then his time was gone because he knew those Avengers would go looking for the attacker. He couldn’t get caught, yet.

So Gregory dropped the tranquilizer gun and slipped away. He left the alley at the other end where it opened onto a different street and, from there, he merely took two steps before he turned, again, and stepped into a candy store. The owner knew him, had done a few little jobs for Papa, when a hand landed on the back of his neck and he was dragged backwards, behind the lollipop display rack, hidden away in a corner of the store. The hand on his neck was heavy, huge and he wasn’t at all surprised to turn around and find Blanca glowering down at him.

“Seconds late,” Blanca hatefully growled out the words. “I was seconds too late to stop your shot and now Ash may loose his first real chance of a family!” There was death in Blanca’s eyes. It had always been there, since that first day when Blanca had arrived at Papa Dino’s door to talk about him taking on the job of teaching Ash. Usually, that death was hidden with a gentle smile and good-humor, but in that moment, Blanca made no effort at all to hide that death.

“Kill me.” Gregory bared his teeth when he spoke, an expression that was nowhere close to a smile. “Even if I never kill Ash Lynx, he will suffer forever knowing that his friend will die because of him. Again. Again, someone dies because of him.” And it wasn’t as good as making sure Ash died in pain and fear, but it was pretty close. “What are you waiting for? This is what you wanted, isn’t it? You wanted me dead.”

In a lightening quick move, Blanca’s hand shifted from Gregory’s shoulder to his throat and he started to squeeze. “My priorities have suddenly changed. Your death now comes secondary to saving Ash’s pop.”

“There is no saving him!”

Around the corner came the owner of the store, a tall, thin man who’d done certain favors for Papa in the past and he looked stunned to see them there. “What’s going on?” And he started to puff up his chest, as if he were ready to fight and that was really no wonder because if he hadn’t heard of Papa’s death, then he was the sort of man who would love to do a favor for Papa by saving Gregory, whom he knew was one of Papa’s men. “You let that man go or- ”

“Golzine is dead.” Blanca slowly turned his head and looked at the store keeper. “You had best leave.”

Whatever the storekeeper saw on Blanca’s face was enough to steal his courage as he suddenly turned pale and cringed away. “Sorry. Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.” And he slunk away without even another glance at Gregory.

Gregory reached for his gun, but he didn’t do anymore than put his hand on it before Blanca grabbed his wrist in his free hand. One squeeze and Gregory heard a distinct ‘snap’ as his wrist was broken. His hand went limp and dropped away from his gun. He’d never even had time to pull it out of its’ holster. And then he couldn’t breathe because Blanca started to squeeze his throat.

“But you’re going to help me.” Blanca’s hand tightened painfully on Gregory’s neck. “You are going to tell me where that metal suitcase with the research notes is and we will hope that it saves Max.”

It made Gregory laugh, an ugly, gasping sound. “You think I’ll tell you? Ash deserves to suffer knowing that he did this to his friend. I won’t help you. I resisted S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA’s threats of torture.”

“But I’m not S.H.I.E.L.D. or HYDRA. I am Blanca and you will tell me!”

Phil-

In order for Tony to take Bruce back to the The Tower, he had to take his hands off Max’s eyes and that had to be done very, very carefully. It was Jessica, to no one’s surprise, who took Tony’s place. She put her hands over Tony’s and allowed Tony to pull his hands away before she covered Max’s eyes. Every now and again, Max would twitch, but they didn’t dare uncover his eyes or speak to him to see how he was doing.

‘I’m sorry,’ Phil thought. ‘Max, I was so sure we could protect you, but things keep happening. My team is so strong, but we’re not perfect and I thought there would be nowhere safer for any of you... I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’

Tony suited up quickly and took Bruce back to The Tower. Clint got their vehicle and pulled up next to them by the sidewalk so they wouldn’t have to carry Max far.

“Ash,” Eiji, who had been so quiet through the whole ordeal, knelt next to Ash. “Ash, we need to go. Can you get up?” He slipped his arm under Ash’s and around his back and helped him get to his feet. He lowered his voice until Phil could only barely hear him. “It’s not your fault. This isn’t your fault.” When the broken expression on Ash’s face told clearly enough that he didn’t believe it, Eiji persisted. “You didn’t want this to happen, you didn’t shoot the gun. This is Gregory’s fault. It’s Golzine’s fault for having the drug made and it’s Gregory’s fault for shooting, it’s not your fault.”

They had to make their way carefully back into The Tower. Steve picked Max up while Max’s eyes and ears were kept covered. They had to carefully maneuver everyone to get Max in the back of the van and it was very lucky that Tony had one in his collection of flashy sports cars. The van had seats that could fold down and it made for an easier surface to lay Max on. Steve would ride in the back in case Max started to have another seizure and needed to be held down, while Clint would drive. It was awkward, but they managed, and Natasha closed the door behind them before she turned to Ash. 

“You get in, now.”

Ash didn’t move. “I’m really sorry you got shot.”

“That is unimportant. Get in the van.” Her eyes kept scanning the area as she spoke. “While Clint and Steve did search that alley, it is possible that the shooter is still near.”

“Yeah. Yeah.” He stepped closer to the van and looked in at Eiji. “You take care of that thing I gave you, won’t you?”

“I will do it. Please, get in.”

Ash turned and ran.

Natasha tried to run after him, but her wound was too fresh and Phil called her back. Obedient as ever, she returned - if not happily. “He will get killed,” Natasha told Phil. “He is going to go after Gregory and he will get himself killed and I only just got family!”

“I know. But you’ll injure yourself and everyone else is needed here to keep Max alive. J.A.R.V.I.S.,” he said. “Tell Tony we need him!”

Tony-

There really wasn’t anything he could do to help Bruce get ready to deal with Max once he got Bruce back to The Tower, but he could go track their wayward house guest down. At least he could try. He had the impression that if Ash wanted to stay hidden, there weren’t too many people who would be able to find him. But he had to try. As he flew over the city in the Iron Man suit, he idly wondered if he really ought to slip some sort of tracker into Ash’s pocket just in case they needed to find him. He dismissed the idea - Ash would take it entirely the wrong way and end up tossing it in a river.

“Alright, J.A.R.V.I.S., let’s settle in for the long haul. That kid’s slippery as a greased pig.”

“Sir, how would you know how slippery a greased pig is?”

“I heard the expression once and I liked it. The point is - I don’t think we’re going to have an easy job finding him. He was real broken up about Max and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was out looking for revenge. I probably would be if someone shot that garbage into someone I cared about. So we’re going to be out here for hours searching high and low for... oh. There he is.”

Out in the open, without any attempt at hiding, Ash was running down the sidewalk. He dodged around people as he went and it was clear that he had no intention at all of stopping.

Ash went straight to the condo where Phil had first met him. Tony hadn’t been there, of course, but he had seen Jessica walk into that building when they’d first started working on the Club Cod case and they’d been looking for Max. Ash ran straight in, the doorman didn’t even try to stop him. Tony would have to leave his armor outside unless he wanted to cause a scene, but after asking J.A.R.V.I.S. to put it somewhere safe, it was simple enough to get in. He did own the building, after all.

Tony went up to Ash’s condo and found the door standing open. Inside, Ash was waiting for him. He stood in the doorway of the bedroom, a sour look on his face, and a laptop in his hands.

“You ran off for you computer?” Tony asked. “You could have gotten that when you came to get your glasses.”

“I didn’t need it then. I need it now. Max needs it.” He hugged the computer to his chest. “I was researching the Banana Fish drug and all my research is stored on here. If I give it to Doctor Banner... maybe...”

“Great idea, kid. Let’s get back to The Tower so he can get started on it.”

“It needs to be taken there fast. You take it.”

“I can carry you and it with the Iron Man suit.”

Ash scowled. “No.”

“I didn’t think you’d care for that idea. Can I come in?”

Ash shrugged and Tony took that as an invitation. He sauntered in and looked around. The place was big, but there was nothing personal in it. It didn’t look like a home, but, from what he’d heard from Ash’s detailed testimony he’d recorded for Mister Scott, the place had been a hideout rather than a home. “Your logic isn’t holding up, you know.”

“What are you talking about? Max needs this information and if you’ll stop being a jerk and take it to Doctor Banner, then Max might be saved. He doesn’t deserve to end up like that and Jessica doesn’t need her last memories of him being screaming on the ground. You can fly it there faster than I can run.”

It was a good excuse. Very good. And if Tony were just a bit more soft-hearted, he might have believed it. But he had been watching Ash and Tony had enough of an ego to honestly think he was smart enough to have judged Ash’s character pretty well. “And now you’re going to try to convince me that you don’t have all that research memorized? That you couldn’t have gone back to The Tower with everyone else and just told Bruce everything you’d learned?”

Ash frowned. “That would be silly. What kind of freak would memorize that kind of thing? It took a ton of research to get what I got and a lot of sifting through dusty old books. Only a real freak would be able to memorize all that stuff. It’s all on here.” He patted the laptop. “And if I could memorize all that, why would I take the chance of putting it on here when anyone who wanted the Banana Fish could get it and use it to make more?”

“God, you’re just brilliant, aren’t you?” Tony could almost laugh. “You see - I do think you memorized all that stuff. I think you’re smart enough that you did it pretty easily and you could spit all those facts and figures right back in my face without breaking a sweat. But you did put it all on that computer. You saved it all. All that research that could, potentially, lead to a cure to that vile drug. You saved it. And I’ll bet my favorite Star Wars Millennium Falcon Lego set that you saved that information just in case you got killed, didn’t you? You didn’t want all that research to die with you.”

“You play with Legos?”

“Doesn’t everyone? And don’t change the subject. You have it all memorized and you can tell J.A.R.V.I.S. at any time. I think you ran off to get the shooter.”

All emotion slipped off Ash’s face and Tony was, not for the first time, reminded of someone taking off a mask.

“And the fact that you’re sitting here listening to me and not threatening me with your pea-shooter to force me to get that research to Bruce as soon as possible makes me think that you already did tell J.A.R.V.I.S. what you know.” The realization was so strong Tony almost felt as if someone had hit him over the head with a baseball bat. “J.A.R.V.I.S., am I right?”

J.A.R.V.I.S.’ voice came back easily through the communicator in Tony’s ear, “Ash told me the most pertinent information while he was running. He also gave me the password to his laptop so I am able to access it. Bruce has already begun to read the research. He is most impressed with Ash’s organizational skills. I did try to tell you, but you were thinking and I do hate to interrupt.”

“J.A.R.V.I.S., you’re a paragon of virtue. And, Ash, if you already gave him access, why break off your hunt to come here?”

Ash snorted. He walked into the living room and put the laptop on the coffee table. “I don’t think killing Gregory will work real well with you following me. I saw you three blocks back. Bright red and yellow armor flying over the city is hard to hide. You might want to do something about that. I figured if I ran back here and gave you the laptop, you’d hustle it back your people and I could get back to business. Now, you can get lost and I can go do what I need to do.”

“It would be severely frowned upon for me to help you commit murder. Besides, killing Gregory isn’t going to solve anything at this point, is it?”

Ash fumed and God did Tony feel old! Ash looked so much like a pouting kid.

“Think about - the Banana Fish has been used. Even if Gregory Dufort has more of it, he’s clearly aiming for you. He’d have gotten you if Max wasn’t quite so fast. So I think if he’s going to use anymore of it, he’ll wait until he gets you in his sights again, he won’t waste it on anyone else. That means that so long as you keep yourself safe, he won’t use it. But, right now, Max is hurt and Jessica and Michael need you. I’ve been told by people who actually have good family lives that family doesn’t run out on each other. Besides - killing people is bad and you are a good person. So, why don’t you come back with me? You’ll give great comfort to Jessica and Michael just by being around and maybe you can help Bruce work on finding a cure.”

“You’re not giving me much choice.” And Ash suddenly looked tired. “I’m so sick of people dying because of me. Sometimes, it feels like people die just because I’m still breathing.”

Tony did not like the direction that line of thought seemed to be heading in. “Since you’re in such a cheery mood, I’ll tell you a little plan I have.” Tony would have said anything, absolutely anything, to get Ash away from the notion that the people he cared about would be better off if he was dead. “So, about your inheritance.”

“My what?”

They walked out of the condo together and headed out of the building. “Your inheritance from Golzine. I know it’s not at the top of your mind, but it is yours. I’ve gone over your situation, looked at the paperwork Golzine filed about adopting you, and asked some very good lawyers about inheritance laws and it all adds up to the fact that you have inherited everything he owned. Once the investigation ends and the police don’t need it, it’ll all be turned over to you. Real estate, cars, a few very valuable race horses, several businesses, stocks... all sorts of things. Have you got plans for any of it?”

Ash stared at his feet. “I don’t want it. Any of it.”

“I didn’t think you would. So I have an offer for you. How about I buy it from you? Say... five hundred million? I can have a professional go over the numbers and figure out if it’s fair, but it sounds about right to me. It would be enough for you to live off the rest of your life and I can make use of the stuff.”

Ash stopped walking. They had taken the stairs, as Ash didn’t like elevators, and he stopped walking half-way down a flight of stairs. “What would you do with all of it?”

“I think you’ll approve. I plan to turn one of his mansions into a shelter for homeless teens. The other one will be turned into a shelter for battered men. You know, there are very few safe places for men to go when they’re trying to get out of an abusive relationship? I’d sell off the rest of his stuff to pay for operation and upkeep of those places. If I give each of those places enough money and invest it well, they’ll never run out of the money. Then, as Golzine was having my company build a hospital for him, I’ll finish that hospital and turn it into a hospital for veterans.”

Ash whirled around and there was something terribly vulnerable in his eyes. “Like for Griff?”

“Yeah. So people like your brother will have somewhere good to go.”

Turning away quickly, Ash said, “You do what you want. I don’t need your money. You can have all Dino’s stuff. Just take it. I don’t want it and you’ll do more good with it than I ever could.” Ash started walking, again. 

“Don’t be hasty. You could live off that money for the rest of your life.”

“I don’t want to benefit from something of his.”

And that was entirely understandable, but Tony didn’t feel right about just taking all of it, even if Ash didn’t want it. “I tell you what, you accept my money and then you can donate it to any charity you like. You don’t benefit from it, but you get the knowledge that Golzine’s money is doing good in the world.”

“Charities? There’s a soup kitchen I go to. It’s run by some local nuns and they’re good people. Last time I was there, one of them mentioned that the refrigerator was starting to die. I could help them out.”

“That’s the spirit. You can do a lot of good, too.”

By that point, they’d reached the first floor and left the stairwell. “You’re a nice guy.” Ash said it quietly, as if he weren’t used to saying such things. They left the building without incident and started walking down the sidewalk. “Say, that thing in your ear? You talk to J.A.R.V.I.S. with it? Can I see it?”

Tony didn’t hesitate. He pulled the communicator out of his ear and handed it to Ash. “Be careful with it. It’s pretty sturdy, but it can still be broken.” When Ash started to examine it closely, so closely that he stopped walking and went over to lean on the corner of an alley as he studied it, Tony said, “You like it? You’re smart enough that you could start making your own inventions. A career in engineering is a thing to be proud of.”

“I think it’s real cool. Something like this would have come in real handy in some tight pinches I’ve been in.” He stepped into the alley while still looking at it. “How long did it take to make it?” He took another two steps backwards.

“Not too long. As soon as I can, I’ll let you see the research. We should go, though. Without the Iron Man suit I’m not as strong as the others. J.A.R.V.I.S. is sending a car for us, but it’ll take a few minutes to get here.”

Ash held out the communicator and Tony stepped closer to take it.

And then there was a gun pointed right at his stomach. He stared at the gun and then at Ash. “Really?”

“I’m not going back to your Tower. I won’t keep bringing danger to them and as long as Gregory is alive he’ll keep coming after me. I won’t have them made prisoners, always in protective custody, just because of me.” Ash turned and threw the communicator down the alley, into trash and shadows. “But it was real nice of you to try to stop me.”

It was, Tony felt, almost impossible that Ash would actually shoot him. It wasn’t as if Tony was a real threat to him, after all, and Ash wasn’t some psychotic killer, he a kid stuck in a bad life. Tony held his hands up in what he hoped was a appeasing gesture. “You don’t have to do this. There are so many people looking for Gregory...”

“And most of them want to get their hands on the Banana Fish just as much as I want it destroyed.”

“What about your friends? Your family? Phil told us about what Bruce found, that Jessica and Natasha really are your aunts. That Michael is your cousin. They want you with them. I know you don’t know Natasha well, but I do and she’s over the moon with the idea of having a family. She’s scared she’s going to do something wrong, but she will be a great aunt.”

“And she got shot because of me. She almost died because of me. You know what happened to Jessica? She was hurt just because Dino sent those monsters after me and they knew that hurting her would draw me out. I’d stopped at her house for an hour to have dinner and that happened and now Michael has nightmares and Jessica won’t go back to her own home. I will NOT put them in more danger!”

Tony felt sick. “So you’re just going to go kill Gregory? Ash.. your life is starting to straighten itself out. Don’t do this. I’m sure Max wouldn’t want you to kill Gregory and...”

“I’m not planning to kill Gregory. That might happen, but it’s not the goal. I need to get the metal suitcase. All that research I gave J.A.R.V.I.S. was just my guessing about the Banana Fish. That metal suitcase has the real notes in it and if I can get that, Max will have a much better chance of surviving.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“I told you - I’m done putting people in danger.” He started to move away, but paused. “Thank you. For trying to take care of me. For taking care of everyone else. Thank you.” He turned and was gone.

It only took Tony about four steps to get to the mouth of the alley, but it was too late - there was no sign of Ash.

To Be Continued...


	42. Begging

Chapter 42: Begging

Sitwell-

When Gregory attacked him and landed his first blow, Sitwell went limp, play-acting as if Gregory had beat him unconscious with just one blow. He wasn’t physically strong enough to fight Gregory hand-to-hand, he had learned that lesson well-enough and wasn’t about to put himself in the position of getting beaten, again. So he let himself fall and, when he hit the ground, he made sure to act as if he’d hit his head. Then, he bit his tongue hard enough to draw some blood and as soon as he could taste the blood, he let it ooze out of his mouth. As predicted, Gregory stopped the attack at once.

Sitwell wasn’t particularly strong and while he could hold his own, he saw no reason to risk any injuries when he knew very well that he wasn’t Gregory’s target. So he waited for three seconds before he opened his eyes and, as he’d thought, Gregory had walked away, back to the end of the alley. He had the tranquilizer gun raised to his shoulder and aimed. He would shoot Ash Lynx, there was no doubt about that.

One hand slipped to the sheath he wore strapped to the small of his back and pulled out a long, slender knife. Once on his feet, he walked to Gregory, ready to kill him for the drug. There was almost no chance of a struggle that would ruin the drug, not when Sitwell could so easily stab him in the back or cut his throat from behind, and it really was his best chance, even though it would be interesting to see if Ash Lynx could survive such an unexpected attack. Sitwell thought he could. 

The hilt of his knife was cool and familiar, a light weight death. He inched closer, careful to stay out of Gregory’s line of sight, even though he felt sure Gregory was so focused on his target that he wouldn’t notice a marching band walking by him. Sitwell raised the knife, ready to strike.

Then, at that worst possible of moments, something caught Sitwell’s eye. Rather... someone caught his eye. He had looked beyond Gregory and it was impossible to miss the man walking out of the alley opposite of them on the other side of the street. He was immense. There was no other word for it. A mountain of a man wearing a nondescript tan coat and a brimmed hat over dark hair. He glared at Gregory, a terrible, implacable sort of look. He walked without pausing, without hesitation, even though he must have seen the gun. He paused only when he came to the street and traffic blocked his way.

Blanca.

Wasn’t that what all the descriptions said about him? That he was so tall you couldn’t believe it and packed with muscles. His hair was dark, usually tied at the nape of his neck in a low ponytail. It could be no one else. Suddenly, Sitwell understood why, exactly, Blanca had his reputation, even though he had yet to see the man with a gun in his hands. Just that look in his eyes made Sitwell very, very glad that Blanca wasn’t targeting him. Blanca must surely have seen the tranquilizer gun Gregory held because he reached under his coat and started to pull something out. It would be a gun, Sitwell knew, but the street was too busy for Blanca to shoot without taking the risk of hitting some innocent passer-by.

That moment of noticing Blanca had lasted only a split second, though it felt longer as he’d watched Blanca approaching, and Sitwell wasted no further time. He started to swing his knife, but before he could hit his target Gregory pulled the trigger.

Sitwell didn’t freeze.

As much as he wanted to finish his strike just to hurt Gregory - he knew who Gregory had shot and if Ash Lynx was dead or dying from the Banana Fish, then Gregory might have cost him everything. He didn’t personally care about the drug - it was no real loss as far as he was concerned - but he didn’t plan to go back to his superiors empty handed. At least if he’d had Ash Lynx, his superiors would be forgiving once they realized what a prize he was. To lose Ash Lynx’s genius, his potential... that was real crime.

Sitwell looked to see where Blanca was, but he was gone. There was shouting in the streets. People ran this way and that and Sitwell abandoned Gregory to make good his own escape. After all, no matter how much he needed the Banana Fish, no matter how satisfying Gregory’s death would have been in that moment, he certainly couldn’t be caught by The Avengers and have his cover blown. Bad enough that Thema Shehata had been discovered and made everyone so suspicious that every member of S.H.I.E.L.D. was being investigated, but if they found out they had another double-agent in their midst, then it would just put Fury in a mood to find more and there would be so many HYDRA agents compromised, so many missions that would have to be aborted. Raising Fury’s suspicions higher than they already were was likely to be even more frowned upon than losing the Banana Fish.

Like a great many buildings in New York, the one that made one wall of the alley had a fire escape on the side, an ancient iron structure that really should have been replaced years ago. But it was there and Sitwell wasn’t a picky man. He grabbed the ladder of the fire escape and, after that, it was the work of only seconds to pull himself up off the ground and start climbing. He didn’t have time to go far. On the second story of the building, there was a window he came to that he was able to yanked open and dive inside, just in the nick of time. Once inside, he stayed crouched under the window and listened. He heard running feet and knew that Gregory was running away. He knew that because he knew that if Ash Lynx had been shot with the Banana Fish, The Avengers would have been instantly sent to look for the shooter. If they caught Gregory it would be over for him. Oh, they wouldn’t kill him, but he wouldn’t be able to escape them.

“You see anything?” The voice of Captain America was unmistakable and it was easily audible from where Sitwell was hiding. 

“No. Let me go up for a bit.” That, naturally, made Sitwell retreat further into the dark room because he knew that voice belonged to Hawkeye and he was climbing. From the sound of it, he was climbing the same fire escape Sitwell had used, but he kept going passed the room Sitwell had taken refuge in. Up and up he went and, then, down. He said, “There’s nothing at a glance. This is getting embarrassing. We face off with an army of alien invaders, but this one guy just keeps getting away? I want him caught.”

“He’s slippery, alright,” Captain America replied. “We’ll get him. This is going to be hard on Ash.”

“You’re not joking. If Max dies...”

And Sitwell felt his heart swell with joy. He felt like cheering - Max had gotten shot! Not Ash Lynx. Quietly as he could, Sitwell made his way over to another window in the room, a window that overlooked the street were he’d seen Ash Lynx and The Avengers. He peeked down and saw the journalist friend of Ash Lynx laying on the ground with his wife crying over him. Ash Lynx was on his feet and healthy as ever. It was the best sight Sitwell could have wished for. The journalist meant nothing, after all. Oh, Sitwell had done some cursory research about that man and his family when he’d learned how close they were to Ash Lynx and while Max Glenreed seemed reasonably bright, there was nothing special about him. He was completely normal, not at all like the young prodigy that Ash Lynx was. In fact, Max Glenreed’s death could be beneficial. 

The drug was lost. 

Gone.

Any information they could get from it would be from whatever medical notes they could get from the journalists’ medical tests. That would be valuable, of course, but not as much as the drug itself. If there were a bit of drug left in the dart the journalist had been shot with, that might be beneficial, but, as he looked down on them, he saw Black Widow pick up the dart that had been discarded on the ground. She carefully held it and, presumably to prevent further exposure to it, she went to a nearby garbage can and picked up an empty water bottle from it. She unscrewed the cap and put the dart inside the bottle before she resealed it and put it in a pocket of her coat.

Captain America and Hawkeye returned when Agent Coulson called for them. After a flurry of motion and a bit of yelling, Iron Man flew away from the scene with Bruce Banner. Max Glenreed was bundled into a waiting vehicle and The Avengers piled in with him. When it was time for Ash Lynx to get in the car, he bolted and Sitwell saw his chance.

He climbed back down to the street level once The Avengers had gone and, by then, he was too far behind to simply run to catch up. What he needed to do was find out where Ash would be and wait for him there. 

There were surely only so many places a street kid could hide in, but he had read the report about Ash’s condo where Phil had first met him and he’d read the report about the little apartment Ash kept. Of course he knew that Ash legally owned Golzine’s mansions. And then he remembered one of the reports, though a brief one, had mentioned a place where Ash’s gang hung out, some trashy bar called the Pink Pig. The report had briefly mentioned how loyal Ash’s people were to him, how they treated him with respect and they obeyed him because of that respect and not fear, as some gang leaders might have done. Ash Lynx could have done it, but he didn’t and that was another reason to bring him to HYDRA. He was a leader and they could always use more good leaders.

He used his phone to call the Pink Pig and the phone was answered on the second ring with a bored sounding, “What?” Manners were not a prerequisite for Ash’s gang, apparently. Not that Sitwell expected any better from such people.

“Hi. Is Ash Lynx there?” Sitwell asked, knowing very well that Ash wasn’t there. He hadn’t had time to get there.

“Who’s askin’?” The voice on the other end asked, suspiciously.

“I’m a friend. I have some information about someone he’s looking for.”

Instantly, the voice on the other end brightened. “Gregory? You know where he is?”

“I might. I wanted to give Ash a heads up that what he’s looking for is at Golzine’s mansion. The one that wasn’t burnt to the ground.”

“Great! I’ll let him know.” The suspicion was back as quickly as it had gone. “And what’s the price for this information?”

“No price at all. You just give him the message.”

The Avengers’ Tower-  
Shunichi-

In the quiet of the apartment Tony Stark had lent them all to use, Shunichi sat on the couch, reading a newspaper, while Michael and Peter played with various toys on the floor. The day had been quiet. All was well.

“Uncle Shu?”

Shunichi smiled at Michael. “Yes?”

“When are mommy and daddy coming back?”

“Soon. Very soon.” He didn’t regret staying at The Avengers’ Tower with Michael and Peter while the others went to the graveyard with Ash. He had never met Griffin, after all, so it was much more important the the people who had been close to him, the people who could protect Ash best, and Ash were able to go. Naturally, Ei-chan had to go with Ash, too, but that surprised absolutely no one.

So, Shunichi had stayed behind and watched while Michael took charge of teaching Peter how to play. He was enthusiastic about sharing toys once he’d been told that Peter never had any real toys of his own, and wanted to show Peter his favorite television shows and books. It had been, mostly, a peaceful couple of hours.

“Ibe-san,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. “May I have a word with you in private?”

Shunichi made sure that Michael and Peter were content and happy, playing with little plastic racing cars, before he went into the kitchen where he could still see the boys, but could safely speak with J.A.R.V.I.S. without them overhearing. “Yes?”

“There has been an emergency and I am unsure whether or not Michael and Peter should know about it.”

Shunichi swallowed hard and closed his eyes. He took a breath, then glanced back to make sure Michael and Peter were still happily occupied before he whispered, “Is anyone dead?”

“No.”

That was an excellent start, in Shunichi’s experience. “Good. Is anyone in the hospital?”

“No. However, Max has been poisoned by the Banana Fish. Gregory Dufort shot him with it. He is currently being brought back to The Tower. Sir and Bruce have already returned and are in the process of getting medical care ready. On Ash’s advice, his eyes and ears are being covered with the hopes that lack of stimulus will delay the effects of the drug.”

But Shorter had died. He’d died screaming with tears on his face as he tried to kill Ei-chan. He’d begged for death.

Max. Screaming? Begging? No. No. It was too terrible to think of.

“What is Max’s condition right now?”

“Phil has told me that he is calm and quiet. As soon as he gets here, Bruce intends to put him in a coma to reduce the risk to his mind until Bruce is able to find an antidote.”

He wanted to run to Max, wanted to race to his side and hold Jessica so she would have a shoulder to cry on because Shunichi knew very well that she would never cry if she thought she had to be the strong one. 

Peter let out a peal of laughter when Michael narrated a car exploding, throwing his arms wide to illustrate whatever story he was telling that involved the exploding car.

“Right. Thank you. Please tell me when Max arrives and when Doctor Banner has put him to sleep.” Because he would not take Michael or Peter there to witness Max suffering.

Less than ten minutes later J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him that everyone had arrived. He asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to let Jessica know that he was aware of what had happened and whether or not she wanted him to tell Michael. She wanted him to bring Michael to the infirmary.

“Michael,” Shunichi knelt down on the floor where Michael and Peter were playing. “We need to go to the infirmary.”

Michael looked confused. “The what?”

“It’s like a little hospital inside this tower. Your daddy has been hurt and we’re going to go visit.” There had been no easy way to break the news, but the terrified look on Michael’s face was too painful. “He’s sleeping now, but I think it might make him happy to have you visit. He won’t be able to talk to because he needs to sleep, but you can see him if you’re very quiet. Your mommy is there, now. Do you want to go?” Because he wouldn’t force Michael to go if he didn’t want to. He was only just starting to recover from being forced to watch his mother get hurt, there was no reason at all to put him through more pain if he was too afraid.

Michael stood up and looked around for a minute before he went into his bedroom. A moment later, he returned with his teddy bear. “I wanna see daddy.”

Shunichi held Michael’s hand as they walked and Peter, who certainly couldn’t be left unattended, walked on Shunichi’s other side. Neither of them said much of anything though Peter started chewing his thumbnail and Michael walked so close to Shunichi that Shunichi nearly tripped over him.

In the infirmary, Max lay on a bed utterly silent and still. Clearly, Doctor Banner had put him into the coma that would, hopefully, save him. It was terrible to see Max so lifeless, it broke Shunichi's heart. Jessica sat at Max's side while Ei-chan, looking sick with worry, stood in a corner of the room with his arms wrapped around himself.

Jessica wasn’t crying when Shunichi walked in with the boys. Her face looked freshly washed and her eyes were bloodshot. She made an effort to smile for Michael. “Hi, honey.” Without getting up from her chair at Max’s bedside, she reached out both arms and Michael went to her, at once. She pulled him up on her lap and hugged him. “Honey, daddy’s not feeling very well.”

“What wrong?” Michael’s voice was very small. He didn’t take his eyes off Max. “Is he sick?

“Yes. Someone gave your daddy a bad drug and it made him sick. He’s going to stay here for a while to sleep. So, I wanted you to see him so you would know what’s going on. You can say ‘good-night’ now because I’m going to stay here with daddy tonight and I want your Uncle Shu to babysit.” She gave Shunichi a pleading look and Shunichi wouldn’t even dream of making an issue about the unexpected babysitting. Of course Jessica would want to be with Max, but she also wouldn’t want Michael to be too scared by spending a lot of time with his daddy who wasn’t waking up.

Michael’s bottom lip wobbled and he leaned against Jessica. “Are you sure daddy can’t sleep at home?”

“I’m sure, honey. Doctor Banner is going to look after your daddy. Everything’s going to be just fine.”

Everyone was busy. Phil had gone off to update someone named Fury while Doctor Banner was studying Max’s blood to get some kind of information. The rest of them were busy with others things that Shunichi was pretty sure had to do with finding Ash and he was fairly sure that if he told them it was futile, that Ash could disappear like an owl on a misty night, they wouldn’t believe him.

It took Shunichi very little time to decide what he was going to do, but with Max incapacitated and Jessica distraught to the point of almost being unable to function, he knew what had to be done. First, he needed someone to look after Michael and Peter.

“Come with me,” Shunichi whispered to Ei-chan before he left the infirmary with the boys. 

Michael was understandably quiet when they left infirmary and showed no inclination of talking. Peter, however, was full of questions. “Why did he get shot? Is he dying? Is there a bad person around? I’m scared. Are you scared? Where’s Ash? Ash will take care of us. Ash takes care of everyone.”

Shunichi answered what questions he could to the best of his ability, but the questions were clearly upsetting both Michael and Peter, no matter how gently Shunichi tried to answer. Peter was a sweet boy, Shunichi had found, always willing and eager to help or do any little chore he was capable of, but when he saw Michael was getting ready to cry, he also started to tear up. Before long, Shunichi was carrying Michael while Ei-chan put a comforting arm over Peter’s shoulders. 

Once they were back at Max and Jessica’s apartment, Shunichi told Ei-chan, “I need you to keep an eye on Michael and Peter.”

“No,” Michael whined and sniffed. “Don’t leave, Uncle Shu. Don’t go. Please? Please, don’t go.”

“It’s alright, Michael.” Shunichi rubbed Michael’s back in an effort to calm him, though he really wasn’t surprised when it didn’t work. “I need to go get help for your dad. So, Ei-chan will stay with you two and I want you to be very well-behaved for him. Understand? Ei-chan knows lots of games and songs and stories.”

“Can we have stories?” Peter, holding onto Ei-chan’s sleeve, asked timidly. “Ash tells stories. Please?”

Ei-chan nodded and gave Peter that warm smile of his. “Sure. Lots of stories. There’s nothing to worry about. We’ll have lots of fun. And I’m sure Ash will come back as soon as he’s finished whatever he’s doing.”

“I wanna go back to daddy,” Michael whimpered against Shunichi’s shoulder. “I wanna help.”

“I know,” Shunichi just kept petting Michael’s back. Nothing would make Michael feel better, but he needed to try. “Right now, the best thing for daddy is to sleep and your mommy is taking care of him. She’ll worry less if she knows you’re safe and being taken care of. So, you stay with Ei-chan and he’ll give you some dinner and make sure you get put to bed.”

Ei-chan tugged on Shunichi’s sleeve. “Ibe-san...”

“Hush. Everything will be alright.” It had to be alright because the world didn’t bear thinking about if Max wasn’t in it. How odd, in all the time they’d been fighting against Golzine, Shunichi had worried so much about Ash and Ei-chan and whether they would be hurt or even killed, but he had never imagined Max being poisoned by that foul drug. His heart had felt like it had died a little. Shunichi gave Michael a kiss on the forehead and gave Peter what he hoped was a comforting squeeze on the arm before he headed for the door.

“Ibe-san,” Ei-chan stopped him at the door. He opened his mouth to say something more, but glanced over his shoulder to where Michael and Peter were watching them. When he spoke, he switched to Japanese. “Ash told me he would leave and I let him go. He was going to get the Banana Fish from Gregory, but now... now...” Ei-chan helplessly shook his head. “He really likes Max and admires him and he was so excited about finally getting a good family. I know he didn’t say it, but he was. If he finds Gregory, I don’t know what he’ll do.”

In Japanese, to not frighten Michael and Peter, Ibe-san asked, “Do you think he’ll kill Gregory?”

“If he has to. He doesn’t like killing, he hates. He hates himself if he has to do it, even if he has to do it to save other people or to save his own life, he really hates it. But if Max can’t be saved.... oh. I think this may end Ash. He had hope for something better and I don’t know how he’ll take having that hope destroyed because I know Jessica will still want to have him as her son, but he won’t do it. He will think it’s his fault, that he did something wrong that ruined their family. What are we going to do?” There was such despair on Ei-chan’s face, such a heartbreaking mix of fear and grief. “I’m afraid he’s going to hurt himself.”

There was nothing Shunichi could do to find Ash. He knew his own limitations well enough that he knew Ash could easily avoid him in this city. Wherever Ash was, Shunichi had next to no chance of finding him. But Ei-chan was right - Ash might chose to do something rash if Max didn’t survive. “You will stay here and look after the youngsters. I will get help.”

Without giving Ei-chan time to ask any questions, Shunichi turned and walked away. He didn’t tell anyone where he was going or what he was doing because he knew that they would try to stop him. Not one of them would approve. If Max were awake, he would call Shunichi a fool for even considering such a plan. But it would work. He knew it would. To save Max they needed to give Doctor Banner as much information about the Banana Fish as possible and there was one person that Shunichi knew of who might know enough to help. One person who knew a frightening amount about a wide range of drugs.

He had nearly made it to the elevator before J.A.R.V.I.S. said, “Where are you going?”

“Out. I’m not included in the witness protection you have offered Ash and I am unimportant. No one dangerous even knows who I am.” He reached the elevator but the doors didn’t open automatically as they normally did. He pushed one of the buttons next to the door, but the doors stayed firmly closed. “J.A.R.V.I.S., don’t do this. Open the doors.”

“It is dangerous.” There was something small in J.A.R.V.I.S.’ voice. “People are getting hurt.”

“I know and I’m sorry if that makes you sad, but I am going to get help for Max. Open the elevator.”

“I am not happy about this.” Yet, J.A.R.V.I.S. did open the elevator doors and didn’t try to stop Shunichi from leaving. “Sir has already gone to look for Ash and I can assure you that he is determined enough that he will not give up. Bruce is extremely intelligent; Max could not be in better hands. Please, do not go. It will not help the situation if you, too, were injured.”

“I’m sorry, but this is something I have to do.”

“I do not understand, but please keep your cellphone with you in case you need assistance.”

Shunichi left The Tower without any other difficulties. The many people coming and going in the lobby paid him no attention. No one spoke to him. He left and headed for Chinatown.

He reached Chinatown in good time and, after arriving, all he had to do was ask for directions before he was sent to the right house.

There was only one mansion in Chinatown. The Lee family estate was not difficult to find and, given what he’d picked up from listening to Ash talk about the sort of people he had been involved with and listening to Max rant about his opinion of Golzine and his ilk, he had entirely expected the two men in nice suits standing guard outside the front gate of the tall wall that surrounded the estate.

He was afraid when he walked up to them, but even though he nearly shook from nerves he kept walking towards them. Max needed him. When he finally stood in front of the guards, he squared his shoulders and said, “I need to speak with Lee Yut-Lung.”

The two guards exchanged a look before one of them went through the wide gate into the estate while the other stayed with Shunichi and watched him. The guard didn’t say or do anything threatening, but Shunichi had the feeling that if he made even the slightest suspicious move, the guard would not be at all forgiving. Several minutes of tense waiting passed before the first guard returned and said, “You will be allowed a few minutes of the young master’s time. Follow me.”

The Lee estate was stunning. In the middle of the city, they owned well over an acre of land and within the great walls that surrounded their property, everything was like a lush garden. There was thick green grass on either side of a walkway that led up to the immense house. There was a pond with a delicate waterfall. He could hear birds singing. Despite the beauty of the place, he could only think that the whole thing was little more than a bragging point - like spending a pile of money to buy a piece of art simply to be able to show off one’s wealth. The house, when he was led into it, was equally as magnificent. The room Shunichi was taken too was a rainbow of colors with huge paintings on the walls, fine art in every nook and cranny, a large multi-colored rug on a wooden floor. The furniture was real quality, probably hand-made, one-of-a-kind pieces. It was definitely a place that didn’t make Shunichi comfortable.

“If you’ve come to demand an apology for me drugging you, you’re going to be disappointed.”

Shunichi jumped at the voice and turned around quickly. There, in the doorway, was Yut-Lung. He was as small as Shunichi remembered and looked almost as young as Ash’s friend, Sing. He stood with his arms crossed and a person standing just behind him who was obviously a guard. Yut-Lung walked into the room and sat in an arm chair that was nearly grand enough to be called a throne. There, he stared coldly at Shunichi.

“I haven’t come for an apology,” Shunichi told him. 

“Then why are you here? I happen to be busy and I don’t have time for social calls.”

“I need your help.”

Yut-Lung’s eyes went very wide. The visible shock was almost rewarding. “What? Why on Earth would I help you? You have Ash Lynx at your disposal, go bother him. I hardly think there is anything in this entire world that I could help you with.”

“Banana Fish.”

Yut-Lung stiffened. Then he gestured to the sofa. “Sit.”

After he sat, Shunichi leaned forward and clutched at his knees. “Max has been poisoned with Banana Fish. Less than an hour ago. He will surely die from it.”

Yut-Lung’s guard stepped forward a little. “Your information may be slightly out of date. The most recent experiments have resulted in the drug’s violent side-effects being minimized. It seems that all test subjects become placid, not violent. It is possible that he will live, even if he won’t be quite himself.”

“But we don’t know that,” Shunichi protested. “We don’t know anything, really. Gregory Dufort had the dug and shot Max with it, but we don’t know if that was the original drug or if it was this new one you’re talking about. Max was put into a coma to save him, but it’s not enough. We need to cure him. Ash has gone to look for Gregory Dufort, but I don’t think it’s very likely that he would have a cure with him.”

“No,” Yut-Lung said, absently. “He wouldn’t have one with him. That lout probably wouldn’t even think of trying to find an antidote. What makes you think I can help you at all?”

“You drugged me. Ash and Ei-chan have told me much about you and the things you can do. They say you know much about drugs and chemicals and such things. Ash told me you took a dose of the Banana Fish from Abraham Dawson before you left him half-paralyzed for Ash to find. If you still have that sample of Banana Fish, if you have any information at all about it, then you could help Max if you will only speak with Doctor Banner. Please.” Shunichi got down on his hands and knees on the floor, then bent forward so far that his forehead touched the carpet. He stayed there. “Please. Help Max. You have the skill to help him... please.”

Yut-Lung spluttered then finally spit out, “Oh, get off the floor, you ridiculous old man! If you’re going to make an annoyance out of yourself then I don’t have much choice. Fan!” 

Fan, the person who’d been standing just beside Yut-Lung’s chair, stepped forward. “Yes, sir?”

“I’m going to make a house call. Give my guest a snack and a drink while I get my things. And make sure the staff know that Sing and his guardian have the run of the house while they’re here.”

“Yes, sir.”

Both Yut-Lung and Fan left the room and, once he was alone, Shunichi slowly got to his feet. He wasn’t too proud to beg when his people were in danger.

To Be Continued...


	43. The Parlor

Dear Readers, the next chapter will be delayed one week. Sorry.

Chapter 43: The Parlor

In the City-  
Ash-

After leaving Tony Stark behind Ash went right to the last place people would look for him because it was the most obvious. 

The Pink Pig. 

Ash walked down the stairs that led from the sidewalk to the basement hangout and noted, the moment the door opened, how strangely quiet it was. The place was never quiet, there was always someone there, and to hear nothing when he opened the door was unnerving. The lights were on and lively music was playing, but the whole place seemed nearly deserted until Ash looked at the pool table where Bone stood dialing a phone. Bones had his broken arm still bound in the cast and the cast secured to his chest with a sling that was tied behind his neck.

“Hey.”

Bones looked up and a wide smile spread across his face. “Boss!” He put away his phone and hurry over to Ash. Not for the first time, Ash noted how rough Bones looked. His clothes were all too big, dirty and patched. The cast, sitting in it’s sling, was clean as the day he’d gotten it. Ash almost smiled to know that his guys were looking after each other because Bones surely wouldn’t have thought to look after it himself. Most likely it had been Kong’s doing that Bones was taking care of himself. Kong, who was a battering ram in a battle, would feel guilty if he stepped on a mouse. He was protective of his friends and Ash wished life had treated him a little differently. Kong really was a gentle soul.

“You had a phone call,” Bones said. “What are you doing here? Is anything wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Don’t get worked up.” He looked around. “Where is everyone?”

“Still out looking for Gregory. They’ve been going out every day since they found out he was after you. “

“And you stayed here.”

Bones growled out, “It was Alex. He made me. Said I had to take care of this stupid broken arm and take care of the place in case anyone came snooping around. The cops are real eager to find Gregory, too. So are a lot of other people. Say, how’s little Sing doing? Chinatown’s in an uproar, I heard, ‘cause first Shorter and now Sing? They aren’t happy, not one little bit.

Ash sat at the bar and tried to think. What he needed was to find a place where Gregory would hide the suitcase. A place where the cops, the street gangs, and S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn’t thought to look, which was a problem. If Gregory wanted to kill Ash, and Ash strongly suspected that Gregory would want to do it personally, then he would have to stay close. He had to be somewhere in the near vicinity and it couldn’t be doubted that between everyone who’d been searching, every place that Gregory might have been hiding in had surely already been searched. Yet, there had to be one more place.

“Sing’s gonna be fine. He’s hurt, but he’s strong.”

“That shrimp is a skinny little thing.” And that was something coming from someone as small as Bones, who made Ash look big. “It ain’t right for people to go beating on a little guy like that.”

And all because HYDRA was looking for Blanca.

“So, everything’s quiet around here?”

Bones nodded. “Yeah. Nothing’s going on. I think Chinatown’s waiting to see if Sing’s gonna be alright and Harlem is just happy to have a little peace. No one’s stirring up trouble, right now.”

Ash felt a little of the tension go out of his shoulders. One less worry. All he had to worry about was finding the suitcase. And Max dying.

Ash pushed that terrifying thought away.

The Pink Pig at least gave Ash time to think in a quiet place and that was what he most needed. He needed to think because not only did he have to save Max, but if HYDRA was hunting Blanca they were either doing it for revenge because of one of Blanca’s previous jobs, which was entirely possible, Ash knew that sort of thing had happened in the past, or they wanted to hire him. That had happened, too. People would send their own agents after Blanca, as if they were putting him through some sort of ridiculous trial to see if he was ‘good enough’ to work for them when, in reality, Blanca chose his clients. He didn’t work for just anyone.

No matter the reason, it was worrying because if there was anyone with a chance of killing Blanca then HYDRA and its’ ruthless agents could surely...

No!

He pushed the fear aside. He didn’t have time to worry about that. Blanca could take care of himself and would probably be insulted if Ash started to worry for him.

What if Gregory had agreed to give HYDRA the Banana Fish if they’d kill Blanca to draw Ash out of hiding?

‘Stop it!’ He scolded himself. ‘Stop thinking like that!’

Someone had shot the two men on top of building in Chinatown when they’d nearly killed Nadia. The fact that he still didn’t know who the rescuer had been was awful. He had considered that Blanca might have done it, but that didn’t seem right, for some reason, and the idea that someone else might be following him around with a gun didn’t make him at all comfortable. At least that was a fairly easy mystery to solve, all he had to do was ask Blanca. If Blanca said he hadn’t done those things, then Ash would have another worry.

“I got adopted.”

Bones’ mouth dropped open, just as Ash had known it would. He sat on the stool at the bar next to Ash. He closed his mouth and looked up at a ceiling, as he often did when he was thinking hard. Slowly, he smiled. “It was Max, wasn’t it?”

“You’re not surprised?”

“No. ‘Course not. He’s a good guy. He tried to look after Kong when one of Foxx’s soldiers hurt him. He tried to take care of us when we were all captured, but,” Bones shrugged. “Not much he could do. But then that wife of his came and saved us. You know, she’s pretty great! You’re lucky. Getting adopted. Everyone’s gonna be real happy for you.”

And she was his aunt. Ash scowled. Jessica and Natasha were his aunts. As Doctor Banner had warned, it could still be a testing error, but the chances of that kind of error happening were surely as great as the chances of the three of them meeting in the first place. He believed Doctor Banner’s tests and really had no idea how to feel about it. He didn’t think he’d ever stop being angry at his mom for leaving him, but he had real relatives and that meant that Michael was his real cousin. It was crazy, really nuts that there were people out there who were related to him and they wanted him. And, of course, that put them in all the more danger and he really didn’t want them to be in danger. He didn’t want to get a family just to lose them.

He had a sudden, sickening memory of Jennifer getting shot, her whole body jerking violently when the bullets struck and she fell instantly to the ground, dead.

“Yeah, well, lucky or not,” Ash told Bones. “The court date is in a few days and then everyone’s going to know everything, so I thought I’d tell you and the guys first. And-”

His cellphone was going off. Set to vibrate, it alerted him silently that someone was calling. He had always kept it on vibrate. The unexpected noise of the phone going off could set him on edge and if he was sneaking around somewhere, trying not to get caught, a phone call at the wrong time could be disastrous. He pulled out the phone and saw a familiar number on it. A lot of numbers were familiar to Ash, he rarely ever forgot them, but he knew this one in particular. He’d bought that cellphone for Eiji.

Ash answered the phone with, “Hey.”

Eiji’s whispered voice answered, “Hi. Are you alright?”

“I’m find. Why are you whispering?”

“Michael and Peter are napping. I don’t want to wake them up.” He paused and added, “They both cried themselves to sleep. ‘Cause you ran off and Max is hurt so they both cried.”

Ash winced. “Sorry.”

“You better be. I don’t want you to be running away alone anymore. I know you are angry, but we need you. Everyone is worried. Come back.”

“Soon. I promise.”

“Then take me with you if you have to go to danger. I will help. Somehow.”

“Helps me more if you stay safe. Don’t make me worry, okay? I gotta focus. Gregory is nearby. He has to be. He can’t accomplish his goal if he runs away and he must know where I am, by now. The cops and the S.H.I.E.L.D. people have all searched the streets and they must have looked in the mansions and Dino’s businesses, all the normal places Gregory might hide. So I’m gotta find other places to look. I’m fine so don’t make a big deal of anything. It’s not like I can help anyone by being stuck in that Tower, now can I? I can do more out here.”

“If you were here, Jessica wouldn’t be worrying and that would help.”

“She’ll get over that. Ah... she’s not mad, is she?”

“Mad? No, of course not. She thinks you’re going to get yourself killed, but she’s not angry. No one’s angry. I told Michael you’ll be back soon. Please, don’t make me a liar.”

Ash didn’t say anything for a time. “Look, did you give Jessica that paper? The one I gave you at the graveyard?”

“There wasn’t a good time. I still have it, but I wasn’t sure if I should give it to her now when she’s so upset.”

“Give it to her. Please.” Because he knew very well that he might die when he went after Gregory and, if he was going to die, then he was going to die as Max and Jessica’s son and Michael’s big brother. So Ash had given Eiji the adoption papers to give them. Maybe there was some weird legal thing that would make it all null and void, because he still had a dad, but if Dino could adopt him, then Max and Jessica sure as heck could. He was someone’s son, again. A real son. People cared about him and wanted him even if he was awful trouble. If anyone knew how much trouble he was, then Max and Jessica sure did. He’d attacked Max in prison, threatened to kill him, pulled a gun on him twice, and it was all his fault that Max and Ibe-san had gotten captured and almost killed by Dino and it was his fault Jessica had gotten hurt by Lee Wang-Lung’s thugs so the two of them really did know he was a magnet for trouble... and they still wanted him. “How’s Max doing?”

“He’s still alive,” Eiji assured Ash. “Doctor Banner really seems like he knows what he’s doing. I don’t understand everything he says. My English is not that good. If you were here, you’d understand it all, but I don’t. I’m sorry. I don’t know what he’s talking about half the time.”

“English isn’t your first language, Eiji, of course all that scientific jargon would be tough for you. Max seems okay, though? I mean... Griff used to have seizures and nightmares. Sometimes he cried.”

“Max is sleeping. Doctor Banner put him in a coma, just like he said he would.”

“Good. That’s good.” And it had to be good enough because Ash sure didn’t know what else to do about it. “I’ll find that metal suitcase. I won’t fail. There’s got to be something in there that will save him.” The idea of Max dying like THAT was too terrible to think about. “You will give the paper to Jessica? Right?”

“I will, but I need to wait for someone to come look after Michael and Peter. I’m babysitting. As soon as someone comes to take my place, I will give her the paper.” 

And that was good. Ash smiled. He was a son. He had a family. It was official. “Eiji, I’m going to hang up, now. I need to find the Banana Fish research. For Max.”

“Of course. I will wait for you.”

From anyone else, that would have sounded entirely too sappy. From Eiji, it made Ash smile.

He hung up the phone and turned to Bones, trying to turn his mind entirely to business. It was time to focus. So he pushed aside thoughts of ‘belonging’, Eiji, the quickly approaching court date, and everything else that mattered to focus on finding Gregory. Well... not exactly Gregory. He needed to find the metal suitcase, but he strongly suspected that if he found one, he would find the other. “Tell me where everyone is. You guys are keeping track of who looks where, aren’t you? This kind of thing needs to be coordinated.”

“We’re keeping track of everything. Sure we are. Alex got a big map.”

Bones led Ash into the back room where a small table had been set up, it was a rickety old thing with a wobbly leg, but it would do. A map of the city had been spread out on the table with various marks here and there. A single glance told Ash that most of the city had been searched. It had been divided up neatly with Cane’s gang, naturally, searching through Harlem - though Ash didn’t expect they would find hide nor hair of Gregory there - and Chinatown was entirely free of any markings at all. “You know anything about what’s going on here other than them being upset about Sing?” Ash asked, pointing to Chinatown.

“We ain’t got too good communication with them, ya know. Not since Shorter...” Bone’s voice trailed away. He had liked Shorter. Everyone had liked Shorter. “Sing knew what was going on and he would have started searching, but I’m not sure what’s going on since he got hurt. You think that new Lee who’s in charge over there is doing anything? You think he knows?”

If Sing had known, then Ash believed he would have told Yut-Lung. Besides, Eiji had said he’d spoken with Yut-Lung at the hospital and told him. Whether or not he was doing anything about it, Ash had no idea. He was one of the very few people that Ash just couldn’t get a read on. With most people he could make a pretty good guess what their goal was in any given situation, judge their character with reasonable accuracy, and decide whether or not they could be trusted with just a few words exchanged. Yut-Lung, however... he was unpredictable. One minute he was getting Eiji out of jail and protecting him and the next he was selling Ash to Golzine. He was chaotic and Ash liked to be able to predict people’s behavior - it made him feel safe.

He shook his head at Bones. “I don’t have any idea what that guy’s doing. And you guys are gonna stay out of Chinatown for now, got it? Until I can get some kind of peace treaty going, you keep away from there.”

“Sure, Boss, sure. No problem. Look here,” Bones pointed at some ‘x’s’ written on the map in blue. “This is buildings we searched though and those red lines are...” Bones explained the whole map and Ash was relatively impressed. His guys weren’t normally so careful. But the map gave him exactly what he needed. He’d already hacked into the police database with the cellphone Jessica had given him and found out where their people had been looking. The S.H.I.E.L.D. computers were proving to be more difficult to get into, but Ash knew he could do it, given a little more time. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time. He needed to move and start searching, even if that meant he’d end up looking in places that had already been searched.

“Oh, hey, you had a phone call.”

Ash froze in his tracks and slowly turned around. “What?”

“A call. Just a little while ago. I was trying to call you when you came in. Some guy said that what you’re looking for is at Golzine’s mansion, the one that isn’t burnt down.”

“That guy leave his name?”

“No. Sorry. I’ll call the guys and tell ‘em to get over here.”

“What for? No point in putting them in danger if it’s a trap.” Ash pulled out his gun to check that it was loaded, but he frowned at it. Max’s gun. A family heirloom gun. He’d kept it in a fancy wooden box, all polished - like a treasure. And Ash was part of that family and Max had given it to him so Ash was pretty sure there was some sort of rule about not using sentimental family heirlooms to kill people. It was a moral dilemma. Ash didn’t want to stain the gift by using it to kill, but he was all in favor of using any weapon at his disposal if someone was trying to kill him. “Don’t go being stupid. I don’t want them involved with this. Heck, I don’t even want you to know about this. Just keep your mouth shut.” Ash tucked the gun back where it belonged. It would be a last resort. He didn’t need to use to a gun to kill people, after all. It was just easier.

So Ash went to Golzine’s mansion in New Jersey.

It was the first time he’d been there since he’d escaped Dino with the help of Eiji and Cain and Sing and all their guys. He took a bus to New Jersey and got off close enough to the mansion that he could walk the rest of the way. When he reached the mansion, his stomach turned. He started walking up the long gravel driveway, the rocks were noisy with every step he took. It was strange not to see Dino’s men patrolling the grounds, no one posted at the front gate, no one standing guard at the door. The grass was overgrown and Dino would have hated it. He loved to have everything picture-perfect and the fact that his home wasn’t would have driven him mad. It was just overgrown grass, but he would have stared out at it hatefully and probably killed whatever poor groundskeeper hadn’t done their job. Ash half-way expected Dino to step out of the front door, cigar in his mouth and his eyes narrowed with his displeasure. 

Dino didn’t step out of the door. He was dead. Ash actually had to tell himself that. ‘Dino is dead. He isn’t here. No one’s here.’ There had been police tape across the doors, but it had been torn loose and there were no police officers stationed anywhere to be seen. Ash walked into the mansion and felt his skin crawl. The place was a mess. The police who’d been sent to search for evidence had clearly been thorough in their efforts. Again, Dino would have been steaming angry and Ash was ashamed to say that he was afraid just thinking about it.

Everywhere he looked there was a memory. A pain. A glance at a wall clock made him remember the feeling of his arm being painfully twisted. A door that led down to the cellar made him think of crying, locked in that dark cellar as punishment for some sin he didn’t want to remember. The pattern of the carpet made him think of being pushed down, held down, and the roar of Dino’s fury.

“Hey!” Ash shouted. “You wanted me here! Where are you?”

“In here.”

Ash followed the voice to the first room he came to and there, standing in the middle of the room with his hands folded in front of him, was Sitwell. Ash stayed in the doorway of the room. “You called my guy. What do you want?”

“To help.”

“I’ve heard that one before. You said what I’m looking for is here.” Ash looked around quickly and took note of everything, but there was no Gregory and nowhere he could easily hide. There was no metal suitcase. “You know what I’m looking for?”

“I know enough. I can guess the rest.” He’d clearly been in a fight. His lip was swollen and there was a dark shadow around one eye. “I ran into Gregory and we... well. We spoke. He said the Banana Fish research was here, in the parlor. I’ve looked for it, but I can’t find it.”

“He was probably lying.”

“I doubt it. Truth serum is very effective.”

That gave Ash pause. He raised an eyebrow.

Sitwell chuckled. “You will find that while I am very fond of my S.H.I.E.L.D. co-workers, my morals are a little more flexible than theirs. The Avengers and Phil are good, upstanding people, but there are times when that sort of thing isn’t practical. One must sometimes lower one’s standards in order to do what is necessary. Gregory wouldn’t talk without the encouragement of the truth serum, so I gave him that encouragement. ” But he shrugged. “As much good as it did if I can’t find the research. I must apologize for calling you out here. I was certain I’d find it and have it ready for you. Still, at least while you’re here, I can share a bit of good news with you.” He sat on the sofa and pulled out his phone. He tapped a few buttons and an image appeared on it. “I thought you might like to see this. I suppose you might already know about it.” He showed Ash his phone. On the screen was a news article about a certain prison warden who’d been caught taking money from Dino Golzine. According to the article, it had come out that he’d been paid to let Dino’s men have free run of the prison and to carry out whatever little jobs Dino might need done in there. “He’s the one who set you up to get hurt.” 

Ash looked up, sharply. 

Sitwell winced. “Sorry, that was tactless. I read most of the same reports that Phil does, so I have heard about what happened to you in prison. I also know that Mister Glenreed made a formal complaint to the warden with a signed witness statement and nothing was done. No investigation and certainly no punishment. There was evidence found, bank information, that he was taking money from Dino Golzine.”

“And you tipped off the police?” Ash stared at the prison warden. He couldn’t say he was sorry that the man was facing the consequences. 

“I did. When I heard what he’d allowed to happen, that he had no intention at all of punishing the people who hurt you, I just couldn’t sit still. So a little tip off to the police paid off very well.”

Ash stared at the image on the phone, clearly taken in a moment when the warden hadn’t been expecting it. He looked harried and afraid. Well he should be afraid because if the Club Cod story blew up as much as Ash expected it to, then the warden’s job would certainly be lost and he would almost definitely be serving time in prison himself and there was no way that could end up good for the warden.

“He isn’t going to be able to hurt anyone else.”

Ash raised up his eyes to Sitwell. “He didn’t hurt me.”

“He allowed others to hurt you. He gave them the orders. According to the inmates who were interviewed, he was relaying messages from Golzine to inmates in the prison. When you were assaulted, he let it go.” Sitwell gave Ash a sympathetic look. “If the warden didn’t hurt you, he certainly didn’t help you. But, I wanted you to know what was happening and since he was a big part of the damage done to you, I thought you should know as soon as I saw this. But, maybe I’m too late. I’m sure you’ve already been told, haven’t you?”

Ash didn’t think he was particularly stupid and he found it a bit offensive, if predictable and sometimes useful, that other people thought he was. Usually, they thought he was stupid because he was pretty. Ash never had understood that logic. He didn’t think Sitwell believed he was stupid. He was pretty sure Sitwell was trying to manipulate him and he had been since he’d hinted that people were keeping things from him. He hadn’t quite worked out why Sitwell was doing it, but he had to admit that Sitwell was good at it. If Ash hadn’t been accustomed to Dino, he might have fallen for it.

Or maybe Sitwell was just being nice. Ash couldn’t really see any reason for Sitwell to get the prison warden in trouble, to publicly make known his crimes. It wouldn’t benefit him at all.

“No,” Ash answered. “No one showed me this.” He handed the phone back to Sitwell. “So, you called my guys? Why not tell Phil and have him tell me? You’re buddies, after all.”

“You’d already run.” He gave a self-conscious chuckle and put a hand to his bruised face. “I managed to run into Gregory just as he was taking shots at you. I’m afraid I didn’t come out best in that little altercation. When I woke up, you were running from Phil and his people. I have to admit, I was a little curious - why? Phil’s a generally good guy. Most of the time, he’s a good guy. What made you run?”

“I got stuff to do.”

“Well, whatever it was, I wanted to make sure there hadn’t been some sort of disagreement between you and Phil. As I said - he’s a good man, but the truth is that if he thinks it’s for the best, he may be tempted to withhold information from you. Only for your best interest, of course. He wouldn’t want to hurt you. But I wanted to be sure you got this. And, there is the matter of Gregory. I heard what he’s done to your friend. I’m so sorry. It must be terrible to lose a friend in that way.”

Ash wanted to snap that Max wasn’t dead and to stop talking like that. Instead, he said, “Let’s look for the suitcase, again.” And they did. They searched every inch of that room. Then they searched the rest of the mansion. It took time, but they didn’t find the metal suitcase. In the end, Sitwell was forced to give up. They walked back to the front room where they’d met. 

“I really am sorry about this,” Sitwell said. “I’ll have to find Gregory, again, and get him to tell me the truth.” Then he looked uncomfortable. “Ash, I do have something else to show you. It’s going to make you unhappy, I think, but I wouldn’t want you to think I was keeping things from you. So... ah... right. Another photograph.” But instead of using his phone, he took a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. It was an old, bent photograph and on it was a beautiful woman with blonde hair. She wasn’t smiling. A strong wind had grabbed her hair and blew it around, frozen in a static moment on the photograph. The background was eerily familiar. Ash recognized the beach, the tall grasses. He saw, far in the background, Jennifer’s diner. Home. The photograph had been taken at his home. From where the diner was in the photograph, Ash knew the woman must have been standing very close to the house where he and Griffin had grown up.

“That’s your mother, I think,” Sitwell said it casually, as if it didn’t matter. As if he hadn’t just handed Ash’s an emotional time bomb. He’d never seen her. She looked a lot like Jessica, but there were enough differences to be able to tell the two of them a part.

“I found that while I was learning about you and your case. I’m not sure it is your mother, of course, but I do think she is.”

Ash felt like his fingers were burning where he held the photograph. He wanted to crumple it up and throw it away. He wanted to tuck it safely in his pocket. Where was Eiji when he needed to talk with someone? Where was Max? The woman in the photograph did look like Jessica. If she was his mom... if.

“Why are you being so nice?” Ash looked away from the photograph and put it down on one of the end tables. He didn’t want to look at it. He didn’t need her - he’d had Jennifer and now he had Jessica. He didn’t need a ghost he’d never even known. “Most people who are nice to me want something.”

Sitwell’s face tightened and something deep and sad settled in his eyes. “You have every reason to be suspicious. I don’t blame you at all, but I do have reason for wanting to help you. I really do want you to succeed, at whatever it is that you’ve decided to do.” He turned half-way from Ash and started to step away. He wrung his hands lightly - a sign of nerves. “I can... maybe I can explain.” He sat on the sofa and wiped the palms of his hands off on the knees of this trousers. As the moments dragged by, his anxiety seemed to grow. He didn’t look at Ash and he tried to speak once, but his voice was choked in his throat and he had to try a second time. “I have an understanding of what you went through.”

Ash had no words. He turned away from Sitwell and looked out the window. He could see Sitwell’s reflection in the window.

“Golzine wasn’t the only person in the world with that sort of taste.” Sitwell was staring at a wall. “I was ten.” He gave a little laugh with absolutely no humor in it. “I survived, Ash. I know what I went through can’t compare to what you went through, but that sort of thing really isn’t a contest, is it? I know what it’s like to be small and alone and I know what it’s like to think that no one will stand up for you. So, when I started to learn about you - that terrible news report and then what I learned from Phil - well, it brought some things back. It was years ago, but I still think about those things. I’m not up to anything suspicious, but I would like to help. There was no one to help me, so I would like to help you.”

Ash felt a sudden surge of sympathy.

Sitwell took his leave and Ash watched him go. He watched Sitwell walk to the end of the driveway where, supposedly, he would get a bus back to New York. Ash watched Sitwell go until he was entirely out of sight and the minute he was, Ash headed down. There were several stories of the mansion and a couple of them were below ground level. What Sitwell didn’t know was that the room they’d met in, that room where Sitwell thought they would find the Banana Fish research, wasn’t the parlor. It was the salon. The parlor was something entirely different and it was no wonder that Gregory had chosen there to hide the Banana Fish as it was nearly impossible to find unless one knew the secret.

He went to the lowest level of the mansion and there, in the wine cellar, he went to a door with a computerized lock on it. He pressed the right keys on the lock and a door opened. Not the door that the lock was set in, of course, but a hidden door about three yards away. He went to a tall wine rack set against a wall and pulled on it. It swung open and revealed the room beyond. Dino’s parlor. In reality, it was an execution room - a dark, filthy place, exactly like the one where Shorter had died. Dino had liked to call it the parlor because he’d ‘entertained’ several important guests over the years in that room.

“Ash! You’re a hard kid to find!” Tony Stark’s cheery voice called out. There came the sound of heavy foot steps on the stairs leading down to where Ash was. Tony, in the Iron Man suit, came down to meet him and put up his mask at once so they could see each other eye-to-eye. “I have been looking everywhere for you. I hope you didn’t think I was going to give up so easily.” He looked over Ash’s shoulder. “So... what’s in there?”

To Be Continued...


	44. A Sample

Chapter 44: A Sample

At The Avengers’ Tower-  
Phil-

There was work to do. Always work. He sat in his office after seeing that Bruce had Max well-taken care of and that Jessica had settled in to sit with her husband. Fury had called shortly after they’d arrived at the Tower and told Phil, “There was a small altercation when a suspected client of Club Cod decided it would be best to hire a mercenary squad rather than let himself be arrested. I need someone to coordinate operations and you’re the best agent for this job.”

Of course Phil didn’t mind. It was a job he could handle from his computer as he spoke to the leader of the S.H.I.E.L.D. group who’d gone out to deal with the mercenaries so the suspect could be apprehended. He’d done many such similar jobs over the years with very little difficulty. He was at it for the better part of an hour, walking the group through every situation thrown at them, but all the while he thought of Max utterly helpless while his wife cried and his son really didn’t understand what was going on and Griffin, laying motionless in the infirmary bed, waiting to be transported to a hospital where he’d be neglected and waste away for years before his teenage little brother - homeless and poverty-stricken - had carried him away to take care of him in secret because no one else had cared enough to.

‘Why didn’t I look for Griff?’ Phil asked himself. ‘I just assumed he was being looked after. I took it for granted that the professionals would do their jobs. I took it for granted that the military would inform his family of what had happened. And now Max...’

A big hand landed on Phil’s shoulder and he looked up to find Steve standing over him. It made Phil ashamed. He had been concentrating on his work and worried for his friend, but that was no excuse. None at all. He checked on the agents he was working with before he covered the communicator he spoke into with one hand. “Steve, what are you doing here?” He couldn’t remember anything short of a life-threatening emergency that would make Steve walk in to another person’s personal space without an invitation. “Is something wrong?”

“You’re tired.” Steve smiled, but it was sad. “Tell your contact that I’m taking over. You need to rest.”

“I don’t just hand over my responsibilities...”

“And you won’t work at your best while you’re so worried about your friend. Let me do this for you. I have a little experience leading people in dangerous missions and J.A.R.V.I.S. will help with the computer, won’t you, J.A.R.V.I.S.?”

J.A.R.V.I.S. answered, “Of course, Steve.”

The idea that Steve might not think he was up to the task hurt. He could certainly separate his personal problems from his duty and he would never endanger anyone because he was upset. “I am perfectly capable of handling my job, but thank you, both of you.” He couldn’t be angry, not at his team. Steve only offered out of concern. That was Steve in a nutshell, all caring and willing to do whatever was needed of him and J.A.R.V.I.S. was really no different. How could he be mad at them for caring? But he was a professional. He turned back to his computer and refocused on his work until he was entirely focused on the mission at hand. It took very little time. The agents in the field were all experienced and had been working together for several years. The mercenaries were dealt with in a decisive manner with minimal losses on their side and none on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s side. The Club Cod suspected was arrested and taken into custody where he would be transported to America to stand trial.

Phil stayed with that group of agents until they returned safely to their transport and assured Fury that all had gone well before he typed a preliminary report and submitted it. When all was done, he finally sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. His hand began to shake.

“If you’re done,” Steve kept his voice soft. “Maybe you should rest a little.”

Steve sat in a chair on the other side of the room, calm and patient - watching.

“There’s more to do.” Phil rubbed his eyes. “I need to find out if Tony found Ash and what’s going on with him. I’m sure he must have gone after Gregory Dufort for shooting Max, but if he goes out hunting for a person and kills him... that’s entirely different than killing out of self-defense. And I need to speak with Captain Jenkins to find out if there will be any changes about the court date because of this. I’m sure Max was to be one of the major witnesses in the case. And there’s still the matter of Ash’s clones - if that’s what they were - and what was found out about them. If Golzine’s people had found a way to make such perfect clones that people couldn’t tell them apart, then HYDRA would probably be interested in that just as much as it would be interested in the Banana Fish.”

He was starting to hate the Banana Fish. It caused nothing but pain. It ruined people.

“I can handle all of that.” Steve stood up and rolled his shoulders. “I’ll talk to them and J.A.R.V.I.S. is with Tony and will immediately tell us if he needs help.”

“But there’s also...”

“Phil.”

“Yes?”

“You need to rest. I know you want to do everything, but Max is hurt. He may die. Go and sit with him and keep Jessica company, if it will give you comfort, but don’t work. Not now. Everything you told us about your buddy, Griffin, and now Max... I know how hard it is to watch a brother-in-arms go down and not be able to stop it. You deserve some time.”

Phil stood up and felt shaky. He’d been sitting too long, maybe.

Sitting with Jessica and Max sounded like a good idea. He looked at Steve and smiled. He really didn’t have the right words to explain how wonderful his team was because he felt sure every member of his team would have expressed the same concern for him, even if they might have worded it a little differently. Bruce would have brought him food and hot tea. Tony would talk until he could coax a laugh out of Phil. Clint would sit with him, a quietly steady presence, until Phil didn’t feel like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Natasha would have assured him, without any doubt, that he was doing everything possible and that he had no blame in the situation at all because sometimes life was terrible and painful and one just had to roll with the punches. It felt like it was his fault. He should have been able to do something.

“Steve, thank you. Please, tell Fury that I’m off duty for about an hour. And see if Captain Jenkins has any more news about Ash’s list of suspects. If Thema Shehata’s name had been taken off the list, then it’s possible that there were others and he was going to investigate that and I haven’t heard back from him, yet. And I also need to know if there’s been any progress made in finding Ash’s chess teacher, Blanca. He’s in a lot of danger until HYDRA...”

Steve pointed sharply at the door. “Go take a rest. J.A.R.V.I.S. and I will handle things.”

“Yes, Steve.”

Phil made it almost to the infirmary before he had to stop. He felt like his chest was being crushed by a great, invisible hand. He really had no right to be in that room. The idea of facing Jessica was almost as painful as knowing that Max was in the same situation as Griffin had been and, just like Phil couldn’t do anything for Griffin, he couldn’t...

‘Stop it,’ Phil told himself. He rubbed his face and took a deep breath. ‘Just stop. This isn’t helping. Go in there and be positive and supportive.’

He turned a corner and saw Natasha, also walking towards the infirmary. She had nearly reached the door when Eiji, leaning on his cane and walking as briskly as one could expect him to, hurried out of the infirmary and down the hall to the elevators. Natasha poked her head into the infirmary and said something before she followed directly after Eiji. Neither of them had noticed Phil.

A Little Earlier-  
Doctor Bruce Banner-

He sat at a desk, out of the way, but in sight of his patient, and worked, trying desperately to find out the secrets of the chemical that Max had been shot with. 

Bruce looked over at his patient. Max was still and quiet, as he was meant to be. It wasn’t good, but it was the best they were able to hope for. Bruce had never seen the results of the Banana Fish drug, he’d only been told about it and about what Dino Golzine and many other people had been willing to do to get their hands on it. If it was even half as powerful as people seemed to believe, then it was truly terrifying.

Jessica hadn’t left Max’s side but for a brief time to see Michael and assure herself that he was doing well. It had been a very short time since Max had been drugged - poisoned, Jessica would say - and there had been no change in his condition. It was reassuring, in a way. No change meant he wasn’t getting worse. The medications Bruce had given him kept Max in what everyone hoped was a safe coma, safe from suggestions that would drive him mad.

‘He’s not getting better, either, though.’ Bruce couldn’t help the pessimistic voice of his own mind. ‘He may not get better. If I can’t find a treatment or if the Banana Fish suddenly reacts badly with the medications I gave him or what if his mind is already locked in some nightmare and I’m keeping him there by keeping him in a coma... so many possibilities. I hate this.’

But there was nothing to do about it. Jessica was adamant that hospitals were dangerous - Ash had been attacked several times in hospitals - and if anyone found out what was going on and it got in the newspapers, then anyone hunting the Club Cod witness might think it was a good idea to show up and kill Max and...

Bruce sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. He was exhausted. 

Hulk was aware, paying attention in his own way, but not alarmed and there was no reason he would be. There was no immediate danger, no threat. Still, Bruce tried to communicate to Hulk feelings of safety and comfort. Whether Hulk got the message or not, Bruce didn’t know, but Hulk stayed calm. Bruce went back to studying the blood sample he’d taken from Max. He’d taken a lot of samples to study - blood, saliva, hair, skin... anything that might have been affected by the Banana Fish, but there wasn’t much he had learned that could help Max.

The door of the infirmary opened and that slight noise was enough to seize Bruce’s attention. He turned his head slightly, just enough to see Eiji step in, leaning on his cane. He had all but given up the wheelchair as soon as he’d arrived at the Tower, but the cane still went with him almost everywhere. Eiji stood in the doorway, awkwardly, with a folded piece of paper held in one hands. He saw Bruce and nodded before he went to stand near Jessica.

“Please. Ash asked me to give this to you and Max when we were at the graveyard.” Eiji spoke very softly, as if he were afraid of waking Max even when that was nearly impossible. He handed Jessica the folded piece of paper. “It is very important to him.”

Jessica took it listlessly and ran her fingertips over the paper for a minute before she unfolded it. Then she smile, softly. “Oh... that boy.” She stood up and gave Eiji a gentle hug before she showed the paper to Max. “You see? He did it. It’s a boy - we got another son. And that silly kid wouldn’t even give it to us himself. I told you he was shy.” And she kissed Max on the cheek before she said, “If he gets himself killed before I can mother him, I’ll never...” She sighed and ran her fingers through Max’s hair. “You gotta hold on, honey. You’ve got two boys waiting for you. Michael needs his daddy and Ash needs his pop. Hold on and give us time to help you.”

Eiji backed quietly away from Jessica and Max until he stood next to Bruce’s desk. “I didn’t mean to make her cry. Ash wanted them to have the paper. It was very important to him.” He looked at Bruce with an expression that was soft and strong, all at once. “He didn’t say so, but it was important. He wanted to know that they had it.” He looked back at Jessica, sitting back down at Max’s side.

“I thought you were looking after Michael and Peter.”

Eiji told him, “I asked Mister Barton to watch them for a while. He is very good with children.”

That was the truth. Bruce had often thought that Clint would have made a very good father.

Bruce was not good at dealing with people. He knew that and he knew why - he’d spent the better part of his life avoiding them - but there was something so openly hurt in Eiji’s face that Bruce wanted to help him. “Is something bothering you?”

Eiji opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked at Max and Jessica with raw regret. Then he turned and walk into Bruce’s office, a private room at the side of the infirmary. When Bruce joined him there and closed the door behind him, Eiji burst out, “This is my fault!”

It took Bruce by such surprise that he laughed, nervously. “Well... I’m sure... you can’t blame yourself for what other people do. You didn’t shoot Max.”

“I knew Ash was going to run away! He didn’t say so, but I knew it! I knew he would. He always does this. He goes alone to danger and he wants it that way and I know this was important to him.” As Eiji spoke, his voice cracked, as if he were on the verge of tears, and he wrung his hands miserably. “He asked me to give Jessica that paper at the graveyard and I knew he would go. He tried to go at that store and I knew it and I said nothing. I was going to help him get away because it’s what he wanted and I want to help him. I should have tried to stop him or I should have told Max or... or something! If he didn’t try to get away we wouldn’t have stopped at that store, we would have gone right back here and Max wouldn’t have been shot and now he’s going to die and he’s going to scream.” Eiji finally looked Bruce straight in the eye. “Shorter wanted to die. He wanted Ash to kill him. He was in pain. I always want to help Ash because he needs - he NEEDS! - to know someone is on his side, always, but he will not forgive himself for this. He says I always take blame for things that are not my fault, but he does it, too! He does it always and he will blame himself for this. He will say he should not have tried to get away or that he should have gotten away earlier to kill Gregory or that he wasn’t smart enough to get away without getting caught, he will blame himself and he will... he will...” Eiji’s voice died away. He looked down at his feet. “Sorry for being loud. Very impolite. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He shook his head and started to leave.

“Now, wait. Eiji, this isn’t your fault or Ash’s fault. And it’s okay that you wanted to vent a little.” He didn’t like the look in Eiji’s eyes, as if he couldn’t possibly get any lower. “I’ve had a lot worse things said to me by emotional people my whole life.”

Eiji stared for a minute, then looked down at his feet. “You have been a doctor for a long time?”

“Sort of.”

Eiji looked away from Bruce. “Is it very bad if someone gets sick and doesn’t eat?”

Of course. It was about Ash. “It can be very serious.”

“And if that person doesn’t wake up in the morning, sleeping all the time? And is sad a lot? Has good reason to be sad, but he talks about death and dying.”

“We’re talking about Ash, aren’t we?”

Eiji turned his head away. “I didn’t say that. I am talking about... about me.”

A lie. A very obvious, pitiful lie. Still, Bruce could appreciate Eiji’s loyalty in not wanting to spread Ash’s secrets to all and sundry. Far be it from Bruce to spill other people’s secrets. “Alright. We’re talking about you. So, the symptoms that are worrying you are lack of appetite, fatigue, sadness, and talking about death. Are there any other symptoms?”

“Angry. Scared. Always scared. Nightmares.”

The symptoms didn’t paint a cheerful image. Bruce took off his glasses and cleaned them while he said, “I can’t offer you anything concrete.” He gestured to where Max lay. “I’m not really a medical doctor and I only do what I do because of necessity. Honestly, I would feel better having a real doctor take care of Max. However, I could hazard a guess that depression might be a cause of the symptoms you describe. The fatigue might be due to that or perhaps anemia or low-blood pressure.”

There was a pain that flashed in Eiji’s eyes and he looked like he wanted to either cry or hit something. “I teased. About low-blood pressure. Didn’t know it was real.”

“I didn’t say it WAS low-blood pressure, only that it was a possibility. It’s possible that it’s all tied to anorexia.”

Eiji frowned. “I don’t know that word. Sorry.”

“It means, basically, not eating.”

“Sometimes eats fine, sometimes not.” Then he fixed a pleading look on Bruce. “Is there a way to help him... er... me? Medicine?”

“I expect there may be a medication that might help some of the symptoms but do you think YOU,” he deliberately stressed the word. “Would be willing to take a drug that may influence your mood?”

Eiji’s shoulders slumped. “No.”

And Bruce had promised Ash that he would never give him any drug, or let anyone else give him a drug, without Ash’s express permission and understanding of what the drug was and what it would do to him. He could try to convince Ash of the merits of properly regulated medication, but as Ash was so vehemently against painkillers, Bruce really didn’t think anything else was going to persuade Ash about taking any medication he didn’t deem absolutely necessary and some unpleasant instinct told Bruce that Ash wouldn’t deem his health a good enough reason to take any kind of drug. “Eiji, the best advice I can give you - the most responsible advice - is that YOU will probably do best talking to professionals - a medical doctor and a therapist. There are professionals who deal with abuse survivors as well as eating disorders and all the complications in between. If YOU don’t know how to find one, I’m very sure that we can help YOU.”

Eiji managed a smile. “Thank you. For wanting to help. Sometimes, I don’t know what to do. It’s very kind of you. And it’s kind that you’re trying to help Max. Are you having any luck?”

“Not much. All I have to work with is the sample of Max’s blood and there’s no trace of anything usual. If I didn’t know better, I would say he hadn’t been drugged at all. If we had an actual sample of the drug or the research, then we may have more luck, but right now, I don’t have anything to work with except what I can observe of his physical reactions, but, since I have to keep him in a coma to keep him alive, there’s not much to observe. His heart rate is steady, his temperature is good, there are no injuries I can find, but other than those few things, I have almost no information to work with.” He had already attempted to reach out to outside medical professionals, but no one knew how to help with a drug that couldn’t be detected and there was no real information about. “If only I had something to work with.”

Eiji’s eyes went suddenly, almost comically, wide. “Like a sample? Of the Banana Fish?” 

“Yes, of course. That would tell us so much. It could mean everything, but if that dose Max was shot with was the last dose, then we’re out of luck with that.” Bruce rolled his shoulders, sore from sitting too long at the computer. “The dart Natasha salvaged didn’t have anything in it. Though, there is a chance that Gregory Dufort might have more, but we don’t know for sure. If I could just get even the smallest of samples, I could analyze it and...”

Eiji let out a funny, choked sort of noise. He said something in Japanese, then turned and rushed for the door, hurrying out before Bruce could say anymore.

Earlier-  
Natasha-

If there was one thing that Natasha truly feared, it was being weak. So being so wounded and in pain was not making her happy. It would have been best for all concerned for her to be left alone to heal on her own before attempting to be around other people. Therefore, it was a complete mystery how she had ended up in the apartment lent to Max and his family, sitting on the floor while Clint played checkers with Michael. Michael had wanted to teach Peter, but Peter had gotten upset when he kept forgetting the rules, so Clint had given him the very important job of keeping score. It was Peter’s job to decide who was winning by counting the checkers on the board and whoever had more was winning.

“Michael’s winning,” Peter said, softly, the first time Clint had asked him to count. He said it calmly, but there was no mistaking how he kept his eyes firmly on the board and leaned a little away from Clint, as if he were afraid of him, afraid that Clint might not be happy with his counting.

That, of course, was silly, but Peter didn’t know that. Natasha didn’t blame Peter for being afraid. She had learned young not to upset the people in charge of her and, at that moment, Clint was in charge of Peter and Michael. He was in charge because Eiji had asked him to babysit. 

Michael kept glancing hopefully at the door. “When is daddy getting better?” He finally asked after the tenth time of looking at the door.

“Everyone’s trying to help him,” Clint reassured Michael. 

Peter spoke up with a bright, “Ash will save him. Ash will do it.”

They were all sitting on the floor of the apartment’s living room because, according to Clint, that was the best place to play checkers. He had also supplied milk and cookies because they were entirely necessary when babysitting. Only Natasha wasn’t on the floor, but had settled on the couch near them as Clint hadn’t wanted her to stress her injury. 

“How can it stress?” She’d asked. “It’s healing. I have fought battles with far worse injuries.”

“Would you just humor me? Just once? Sit on the couch and be comfortable.”

Ever since returning from the hospital, everyone had been ridiculously helpful and every one of them had been insistent that she be comfortable and rest. The whole situation was embarrassing.

Michael got up off the floor and crossed his arms at her. “You sound like Ash. That’s not good. You’re gonna get hurt more.”

It was still jarring to think of having family, but Natasha had rarely ever found Bruce to be wrong about anything, so she sincerely doubted that he was wrong about a D.N.A. test. He was right and she had family. Right there, right in the Tower. A sister and a brother-in-law and two nephews. She looked at Michael and didn’t see much of herself in him, but then she wasn’t entirely sure how much of her own face was actually hers. She had been given a few surgeries over the years to turn her into the most attractive version of herself that was possible. Most of the other children of the Red Room had been altered in certain ways.

“I see a resemblance,” Phil had assured her. “It’s around the nose and eyes.”

But Michael looked like his father, the very image of a little Max. Jessica was a little more disturbing because Natasha looked at her and saw who she might have been. Laughing, openly affectionate with her husband and child, she followed no one’s orders but her own. Natasha suddenly found that she didn’t want Jessica to know her past, which was silly because her history was no real secret. The newspapers had even written about her. Jessica could surely find out anything she wanted to know. But she didn’t want Jessica to know what she’d done, what sort of things she was willing to do given the right situation because Jessica surely wouldn’t like her and that would hurt. It shouldn’t. She had once been entirely beyond such emotional pain, but she knew that if Jessica turned away from her, it would hurt.

Abruptly, Natasha stood up. 

“What are you doing?” Clint asked as he moved another game piece. “Sit down, Michael, it’s your turn.”

“I am going for a walk.”

“Where?”

“Out.” Because, really, she needed time to think before Clint made the mistake of leaving her alone with the children. “I will see when Eiji plans to return.”

As she’d expected, Eiji was in the infirmary, but when she walked to the door, it opened and he rushed out. He didn’t exactly run, but he certainly came close to it. He didn’t see her, but almost ran for the elevator. Natasha peeked into the infirmary and saw Jessica still sitting with Max, just as she had when Natasha had last seen her. She looked tired, but had refused outright to leave. Natasha did admire someone who could stand by their convictions. But when Jessica happened to look up and saw her, Natasha told her, “Michael is worried. You may want to visit him.” At least, that was her best guess about what to do in such a situation. Then, she turned and started after Eiji. 

“Where is he going?” She asked, aloud.

J.A.R.V.I.S. answered, “I think he is planning to leave.”

She caught up with Eiji at the elevator. “You were supposed to return to your apartment after you gave Jessica that message.”

Guiltily, Eiji gave her a little smile. “I’m sorry. Please, forgive me. There is something very important that I must do.”

She went with him.

“Should you be going out?” Eiji asked. “You’re hurt.”

“You are hurt, too.” She motioned to the cane he leaned on.

“I’m less hurt than you.”

“I am able to look after myself.”

They left the Tower and started walking. When they’d been walking for ten minutes, she asked Eiji, “Where are we going?”

“Chinatown.”

“Why?”

He grinned at her. “Because I have an idea!”

“This would have been faster if we’d taken one of Tony’s cars. He wouldn’t have minded.”

A blush turned Eiji’s face a rosy red almost instantly. He kept walking, but bowed his head, a little. “I didn’t think about that.”

Eiji’s idea led them into Chinatown where several people noticed him, a few called out greetings, but he kept walking. He walked until they came to an apartment building that had seen better days. There were bars on some of the windows and the bricks were starting to crumble in places. 

“This is the place,” Eiji told Natasha. On the third floor of the apartment building, Eiji knocked twice on a door before he opened it and let them in. “Doctor? Are you here? We need you!”

Natasha easily stepped in front of Eiji and went into the apartment first. It wasn’t a home, clearly. 

There was an office area of the main room with a computer on a desk and a couple of filing cabinets along with what looked like a small lab with a microscope and glass vials. There were medical books on a rickety bookshelf. It was not at all comparable to the lab that Bruce and Tony shared, but it was definitely a lab. There wasn’t anything in the main room of the apartment that looked anything like a home. There were a few plastic chairs and two closed doors. That main room was divided by a large screen, blocking part of it from view. There was nothing threatening that Natasha could see, but it was only good sense that she would take point when Eiji certainly had no fighting skills worth boasting of.

She sniffed the air and smelled cigarette smoke. There was also the smell of blood, something she was well accustomed to, as well as some kind of disinfectant. 

“Sir?” Eiji called out, again, as he closed the door behind him and stepped up next to Natasha. 

“Just a minute!” From behind the large screen a man stepped. He was a short, portly sort of man with a white lab coat on. He had a beard and moustache and a lit cigarette in one hand. The man gave them a flat look, first Natasha and then at Eiji. He sighed. “I’m booked solid for a week. Come back next Tuesday and I’ll get you done at 11 a.m. sharp. Five hundred dollars up front and I don’t take checks.” He eyed Natasha, but not in that sort of predatory way many people did. Rather, it was a sort of clinically appraising look. “Bit old for this kid, aren’t you?”

Natasha blinked, then looked at Eiji, who seemed just as confused as she was. But Eiji smiled. “Please, we only met for a little while, so I think you don’t remember me, but I’m Eiji. I am Ash’s friend. I was here before when Arthur broke in and his person killed Ash’s brother -”

The man in the lab coat choked on his cigarette smoke and stared at Eiji. “You?! Yes! Yes, of course. I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize you. Where’s Ash? I heard he’d died and then someone said there was rumor going around that he was still alive and then one of my clients said they’d seen him walking around Chinatown that same day the Chang Dai was attacked. What’s going on?”

Natasha knew Eiji would tell the truth. He was entirely too honest. So she spoke up before he could say even a single word. “I’m afraid Ash Lynx is dead. I’m sorry, I understand you knew him quite well.”

The man’s face fell and his shoulders slumped. “Well, I took care of a lot of the medical care for his gang. What a shame. He wasn’t a bad kid, really.”

Eiji stared at Natasha, astonished. “But...”

“There’s no time for pleasantries, I’m afraid. You see -”

Eiji interrupted with, “Oh! Pleasantries! Yes, sorry, I forgot. Miss Natasha, this is Doctor Meredith. He helped Ash very much. Doctor Meredith, this is Miss Natasha. She’s an Aven -”

“We are in a bit of a hurry, Eiji.” She didn’t bother to give him a warning look as she strongly suspected he wouldn’t catch the hint. There was no reason to complicate matters by giving unnecessary information such as the fact that she was an Avenger. “Didn’t we have a reason for coming here?”

Eiji nodded, furiously, and said to Doctor Meredith, “Yes, yes. Please, Ash left something with you and you showed it to Shorter Wong and Ibe-san and me when were last here. Arthur took most of it, but you said you’d kept a small sample aside. A tiny glass bottle with white powder?” He held up his thumb and index finger about an inch apart to illustrate the size of the container. “Do you still have it?”

He turned pale. Doctor Meredith turned so pale that Natasha could actually see the color drain from his face. “I do. Of course I do, what could I do with it? Can’t throw that stuff away, someone might get a hold of it or some poor stray animal might find it and think it was something to eat. I always thought Ash would come back for it, but days and weeks passed and then months. Then that news report about his death. So... I just kept it.”

“That’s good, that’s great.” Eiji’s eyes lit up, eagerly. “We need it very much. I was afraid you might have given it to the police. Oh, but I suppose that doesn’t make sense, because they didn’t know about it so you can’t have given it to them.”

There was another reason and Natasha saw it clearly. Whatever Doctor Meredith’s business was behind that white screen, it wasn’t legal and he couldn’t have the police poking around in his life. She had suspicions of what he did, given his comments when he’d first seen them. “If you will give it to us, we will see that it is properly disposed of.” And by that she meant she would give it to Bruce. What he did with it was very little concern to her because she knew he would do the right thing.

Doctor Meredith hesitated. He took another puff of his cigarette. “Now, I’m not sure sure...”

Before Natasha could tell him to either give it to them or have it taken, because she was in no mood to dilly-dally - a lovely word she’d learned from Steve - Eiji told him, “Please. This is for a very worthy cause.”

“Kid, I’ve studied that stuff and, believe me, there is nothing worthy about that junk.”

Natasha told him, “But there is. It will help to save Ash’s pop. He is dying from it and perhaps a sample to study will save him.” She could, of course, take it from Doctor Meredith but Clint was forever telling her that doing things without fighting was best. “We need it and will ensure that you don’t have to be burdened with it.”

His eyebrows were drawn together and he narrowed his eyes. “And I should just believe that you’re the right people to give it to? I’ve seen what people are willing to do for it. I have studied it. I’ve experimented with it and I’ve analyzed all the data. I know how dangerous this stuff is and I know people are willing to kill for it. If that street punk, Arthur, was willing to kill to get it, what would bigger fish to do get it?”

“Very good question, but,” Natasha said, coolly. “What you should be asking is - how would you stop them if they came knocking on your door?”

The atmosphere was suddenly heavy. Eiji looked back and forth between them, clearly uncomfortable. “We don’t need to be upset. Please,” he looked at Doctor Meredith. “We really need it and you don’t want it. I promise we won’t give it to anyone bad. She’s telling the truth, we are going to save Ash’s pop. He may die without it.”

Natasha saw the exact moment when Doctor Meredith gave in. His shoulders relaxed and a wiry smile took the place of the scowl he’d worn when talking to Natasha. “I shouldn’t trust you, but I do. You were Shorter’s friend and he was a good kid. He had a good nose for people, too.” Doctor Meredith went to his desk and, from one of the drawers, he took out a small bottle, sealed with a cork. He handed the bottle of white powder - no more threatening to look at than a pinch of flour - to Eiji. Then, his voice turned hard. “Don’t lose it, don’t let it get stolen. Be afraid of it.”

Eiji nodded. “Yes. I understand. I won’t let anyone get it.”

They left Doctor Meredith’s office with Eiji clutching the little bottle with the attitude of person protecting a treasure. Natasha stopped him when they reached the empty lobby of the building. It was a sad place, all peeling wall paper and questionable stains on the carpet along with a unpleasant, but unidentifiable, smell in the air. “We will wait here for a bit.” She took out her cell phone and made a phone call.

“J.A.R.A.V.I.S., I need you to send an armored car, please. Quickly, please, and I will debrief you on this mission as soon as we are in the vehicle.” She hung up, utterly certain that J.A.R.V.I.S. would send the vehicle. Then she took out her gun and held it, ready for trouble, but discretely concealed at her side.

“But... why?” Eiji frowned at the gun. “There are no enemies, here. No one knows we have it. We can just go.”

“If I had known where we were going and why, I would have had you ride in the armored vehicle on the way here or, better, I would have told you to stay at The Tower while I retrieved it. We will not take any chances.” HYDRA was still in the city, still looking for Ash’s chess teacher and if they knew he was close to Ash, then it surely wouldn’t take too much research to find out that Eiji was close to Ash and target him, too. She looked at the bottle Eiji held so carefully. “So, that’s IT?”

Eiji nodded and held up the bottle to look at the powder it held. “This is the Banana Fish.”

To Be Continued...


	45. Dark

Chapter 45: Dark

Blanca-

He seized Gregory by the arm and told him, very calmly, “You won’t like what happens if you draw attention to us. Walk.”

They left the candy store Blanca had found Gregory in and started down the street, away from the scene of the unpleasant crime that had left Ash in more pain. That pain had been caused by Gregory and that just couldn’t be allowed. Several times during their walk down the sidewalk, among all the people going about their ordinary lives, Gregory attempted to pull away, but Blanca tightened his grip on Gregory’s arm until he heard Gregory let out a grunt before he stopped pulling. The message was clear - Gregory wouldn’t escape and Blanca was more than capable of convincing him not to try.

Neither of them spoke, there was nothing to say. Each of them knew what the other was after. Even when they passed a police officer walking her beat, Gregory didn’t call out for help despite the fact that he could easily get Blanca arrested for kidnapping or point out the weapon concealed under Blanca’s coat. Blanca hadn’t feared he would for the simple reason that Gregory was being sought by the police, also, and couldn’t give himself away.

It would have been a stale-mate if Blanca hadn’t had the advantages of being bigger, taller, and better trained.

He took Gregory to one of Gregory’s apartments.

“How did you know about this place?” Gregory had asked when they’d arrived at it.

“Angie told me about this place. He was very talkative... in the end.”

Gregory didn’t comment.

It was when Blanca pulled Gregory up the stairs that led into the apartment building that Gregory stumbled. It had been barely noticeable, but Blanca did notice. Gregory wasn’t a clumsy man. When he stumbled a second time over the threshold of the door, Blanca narrowed his eyes. He let the door close behind them and, as soon as he was certain they were alone in the lobby, he turned on Gregory and, with a hand against Gregory’s chest, he shoved Gregory backwards until Gregory’s back hit the lobby’s wall with enough force to make Gregory wince. “What are you on?” Without giving Gregory time to answer, Blanca pried one of Gregory’s eyes wide open and studied the size of the pupil and the general condition of him. “What did you take? What drug?”

“Didn’t take it, was given it. That dog went and injected me with it. Makes me talk too much. Shouldn’t talk. Papa will be angry.” Then he grimaced and bit his tongue, as if that it might stop him from talking.

“Makes you talk? Then you’ll tell me where that metal suitcase is.”

“It’s at the mansion, in the parlor. I left it in the parlor because no one would think to look there, no one even knows that it’s there except Ash and he won’t go back.” Gregory let out an unpleasant laugh. “Too much happened there.”

Blanca remembered the parlor, where Golzine would take only certain guests. Yes, Ash had been in the parlor, but he WOULD go back, despite what Gregory thought. He would need to find Gregory and the metal suitcase after Max had been shot, even if Max were to die, Ash would need to find it simply to destroy it. Ash would consider all the possibilities, the many variables in this problem, and he would deduce that if everyone else - police, S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA, and the street gangs - had been searching everywhere, then he would need to look somewhere that had already been searched and, surely, Golzine’s mansion would have been one of the first places searched after the terrible secrets of Club Cod had been exposed to the light. He would have gone there and, if he couldn’t find it anywhere else, determined little Ash would have gone to the parlor. He would, despite the memories it would dredge up and despite the nightmares it would be sure to inspire.

He focused, again on Gregory, still lightly chuckling over the idea of Blanca’a little kitten going into that place. He gave Gregory a shake. “What dog gave you this drug that makes you speak?”

“He said it was a truth serum.” The longer time went on, the more Gregory’s words seemed to be slurring, the more his eyelids drooped. Gregory’s face twisted, as if he were in pain, but he kept talking. “Drugged. Truth serum. That dog... he drugged me, made me tell him where it is. He’ll be there, now. Taking it.”

“What dog?” Blanca repeated even as Gregory swayed, as if he wasn’t quite awake. Being drugged was believable.

Gregory’s eyes sprang open. “HYDRA agent. They’re after you. I did that. Told that Thema Shehata I’d give her the Banana Fish if she killed you and gave me those rings you wear on a chain around your neck as proof. She practically flooded the city with her agents trying to find you.”

“So I have you to thank for that.” It was also a worry off his shoulders because if he was only being hunted so Thema Shehata could get the Banana Fish and he had, very certainly, killed her, then there was no longer any reason for the HYDRA agents to be looking for him. But they would still be after the Banana Fish. And Gregory had told a HYDRA agent where it was. Ash would go there. Ash would figure it out and he would go to get the Banana Fish and there would be HYDRA agents when he arrived in Golzine’s parlor.

At least he had comfort in the knowledge that he had trained Ash to run away if the odds seemed against him. His precious student wasn’t nearly silly enough to... stand up against an enemy he obviously couldn’t defeat? Like Golzine?

With a resigned sigh, Blanca shook his head. Yes, Ash was silly enough to do just that sort of thing.

Somewhere Over New York City-  
Tony-

He flew over New York in search of Ash, trying desperately to look in every little nook and cranny he could because he couldn’t just stand by and do nothing when he was reasonably certain that Ash was hunting to kill. If he found Gregory, he would kill. There was no doubt in his mind. It must be terrifying to be Ash, Tony thought, even while he kept his eyes roaming over every inch of the city he could see.

Tony thought back to that terrible night when he’d gotten drunk and met Ash, that night when Golzine had tried, and failed, to trap Tony into doing something monstrous to Ash. Phil had assured him that it wasn’t his fault. Ash had brushed the whole thing off as if it hardly bothered him. All the same, Tony couldn’t help the regret he felt about that night. He should have known. He should have realized. If he had helped back then... everything would have been different for Ash. He could have helped. Golzine might have had money and high connections, but Tony outclassed him by miles and knew it. He had more connections than Golzine could have ever hoped for, both high and low. He could have crushed Golzine with hardly any effort. But he hadn’t known. He’d been too busy rebelling against the world and his life and... and... he hadn’t known.

“I’m not going to fail this kid. Not again. J.A.R.V.I.S., this city is full of security cameras of one sort or another. See if you can’t take a look at some of them and catch a glimpse of Ash. He can’t run faster than you can see.”

Of course he couldn’t.

As J.A.R.V.I.S. began to watch the security video from around the city, Tony tried to think of anywhere that Ash might go if he were looking for Gregory or where Gregory might have hidden the metal suitcase, but he didn’t know Gregory well enough to know where to look. It took some time for J.A.R.V.I.S. to find a lead and, when he did, it was an old recording of Ash getting on a bus that would take him to New Jersey. “Dino Golzine had two properties in New Jersey, one of which has not yet been destroyed,” J.A.R.V.I.S. told Tony. “I expect he may go there.”

And so they went. When they arrived, Tony walked into the mansion and immediately started to look around until J.A.R.V.I.S. picked up a heat signature in the basement. Tony went down and found Ash standing in the doorway of a room.

“Ash! You’re a hard kid to find!” Tony called out as he went down some stairs to meet Ash and put up his mask so they could see each other eye-to-eye. “I have been looking everywhere for you. I hope you didn’t think I was going to give up so easily.” He looked over Ash’s shoulder into the room beyond. “So... what’s in there?” His smile dropped away the minute he saw the room. A torture chamber. Dino Golzine actually had a torture chamber in his cellar. “God!”

With a sigh, Ash shrugged. “You might as well come in.”

Tony followed Ash in, but was at once disgusted. It didn’t take much of an imagination to figure out what Golzine must have used the room for.

Ash didn’t linger. He hardly looked at the room before he went to a door at the side of the room and opened it. It looked like nothing more than a large closet. There, in the middle of the closet was a metal suitcase.

“That’s it?” Tony asked. “That’s what all the trouble’s about?”

“That’s it.” But Ash hesitated. He didn’t go immediately into the closet. His hesitation didn’t last long, though. He squared his shoulders and stepped in, but only long enough to grab the metal suitcase and get out. He left the door open as he did. Ash put the metal suitcase on the floor and opened it. The locks had been broken. It was filled with papers, almost stuffed full. Ash picked up one paper off the top of the papers and scanned it, quickly. “This is it. This is what Doctor Banner will need. It’s the information about the Banana Fish.” He slammed the metal suitcase closed and stood up with it in his arms. “We need to get this back to Doctor Banner.”

“That’s no problem. But look, you could have just asked for help. We would have helped you get it. None of us want Max to be hurt.”

“You were all busy trying to save him. I wasn’t going to take anyone away from that. Besides, Max got hurt because of me so it’s my job to fix this. If I hadn’t wanted to go out- ”

“You wanted to see your brother! No one blames you for that!”

“Griff... Griffin is dead. Me going to see him won’t changed a damned thing. His grave will still be there in a day, in a week, in a decade. I coulda waited. I didn’t have to go out when I know there are people after me, I sure as heck didn’t have to drag everyone along with me.” He stared down at the metal suitcase. “I wanted a chance to get away from all of you so I could find Gregory and it seemed like such a good opportunity.”

Tony sighed. He could understand. Ash got them all out, everyone dropped their guard around the grieving boy and, in the cluttered thrift store, he would slip away and they wouldn’t be able to find him. It seemed like such a good plan and it likely would have worked if Max hadn’t be so protective. “You didn’t hurt Max. Gregory did. Keep that in mind.”

Ash was quiet for a brief moment. “Look, I gotta get this stuff back to Doctor Banner. There’s gotta be stuff in here that can save Max.” Shockingly, he held the metal suitcase out to Tony. “You move fast, so get it to him.”

“I’ll carry you- ”

“Hell no.” Ash didn’t even give him time to finish the sentence. “I’ll make my own way back.”

“I can’t leave you here alone. I’m responsible for you, now.”

“I can look after myself alone better than you can look after me. So you get this stuff back to Doctor Banner and don’t worry about me. I’d rather die than let Max suffer.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “God, so dramatic! To be a teenager, again! The self-sacrifice is all well and good, but it’s entirely unnecessary.” Tony took the metal suitcase from Ash and knelt down on the floor where he opened it. Methodically, he started to lay all the papers out on the floor. There was quite a bit and it turned out that not all of it was papers. There were also various storage units such as thumb drives, cds, and a couple of floppy discs, which made Tony feel a bit nostalgic. He put the Iron Man helmet back on and said, “J.A.R.V.I.S., how about you record all this research and then show it to Bruce for me?”

“Easily done, Sir. Look at each page carefully, front and back, and I will ensure that the information is saved.”

And it really was as easy as that. What took the most time was physically going through the pile of papers so J.A.R.V.I.S. could see everything, but even that didn’t take too long. He even managed to get the information from the electronic storage units. When he was done and J.A.R.V.I.S. had as much information as he was able to get, Tony finally turned around and looked at Ash.

“Yeah, there isn’t a good way to ask this, but you seem a little careless with your own safety.” Tony didn’t stare at Ash when he said it. God knew, he hated it when people started asking personal questions while staring at him. “I noticed you waited to do all this until after you’d recorded your testimony for Mister Scott. You, kid, didn’t want to lose out on telling the world your story but you also didn’t want to miss getting Gregory.”

“I’m not trying to kill him,” Ash said with a strangely soft voice. “I don’t... want to do that. But he had the Banana Fish and I can’t let that get out into the world, again. I’ve killed a lot of people. You ask Captain Jenkins and he’ll tell you. I kill people all the time. I’m good at it. Sometimes, I think I’ll lose track of how many people I’ve killed. But I don’t want to kill.”

He didn’t believe that Ash had forgotten how many people he’d killed, but he didn’t say it. There was no reason to point out that Ash’s perfect memory made it almost impossible that he would ever forget the people he’d killed. Ash surely knew that better than anyone. A perfect memory... what a terrible gift to have.

“Well, it’s done,” Tony said. “Everything’s saved and transmitted. Bruce will be getting it right now.”

“Done?” Ash was tense when Tony faced him. The little read-out J.A.R.V.I.S. displayed on the inside of the Iron Man helmet showed Ash’s heart rate and respiration - too fast. Despite that, Ash looked perfectly composed. His hands hung at his sides, loose and at ease. There wasn’t even the slightest hint that he was anything but relaxed. “Doctor Banner has all that information?”

“He sure does. Bruce is going over it as we speak.” He opened up the Iron Man mask. “You did good.” Because Tony couldn’t get over how terrible this must have been for Ash, to willingly go back to a place where he’d been routinely tortured for years. Routinely. That torture could become so much a habit that Ash could stand there in a literal dungeon and not look even the slightest bit disturbed by any of it was just too sad for words.

Ash kept his eyes on the metal suitcase, open and empty, with all of its awful treasures on the floor in front of Tony. “I don’t know what else to do. I don’t know how else to help.” He looked sharply at Tony, still emotionless as a doll. “I think I’m better at killing than saving.”

Tony opened his mouth to disagree, but Ash turned around and walked away. Tony quickly packed all the papers back into the metal suitcase because he was fairly certain that Phil and Bruce would want all that information to be kept as secret and safe as possible.

The torture chamber - Tony just couldn’t think of it any other way - was made of stone on the walls and floor and heavy, iron beams supported the rest of the mansion overhead. The place smelled terrible, but Tony couldn’t identify the exact smell. It was heavy and foul - revolting. There were chains bolted to one wall and a large table with ropes ominously attached to each corner sat in the middle of the room. There was a cabinet against another wall, but when Tony started to walk towards it, Ash quietly advised,

“Don’t open it.”

“What’s in there?”

“Stuff. Don’t open it.”

It made Tony hesitate. Finally, he turned away from the cabinet and looked at Ash. He stood near the door of the torture chamber, still at ease with no trace of tension. 

“Dino called this room his parlor, only his most special guests were allowed in here, but that closet,” Ash looked at the little closet the metal suitcase had been in. “He used to lock me in there.”

Tony said nothing. Ash didn’t like talking about his past, anyone could see that, but he had. He had spoken so openly about what had happened to him, what he’d survived, that Tony could easily admit that he wouldn’t have had the same courage. There were still some things he hadn’t told his team mates about his past, stuff he hadn’t told even Bruce or Phil and he trusted them like no one he’d ever known. Only J.A.R.V.I.S. knew and understood those shadows of Tony’s past. He couldn’t have sat in front of a camera and spoken about his life to all and sundry, but Ash had. He had done so willingly, knowing it would be painful and knowing that once he told his secrets, they could never be shoved away, again. But he hadn’t WANTED to do it and the fact the he would talk about his past deserved respect, so Tony listened.

“When I was bad, he locked me in there.” Ash’s voice was as flat as a plank. He kept staring at that the little closet. “I was scared of the dark and he knew it. He locked me in and I screamed and he wouldn’t let me out until he’d stopped being angry with me. Until he thought I was ready to be a good boy. He left me in there for ages, once. I lost track of time. He didn’t let me out for food or water or anything and when he did let me out the light hurt my eyes. I was weak and dirty and he smacked me for being dirty.” Ash turned his eyes to the table in the middle of the torture chamber, the one with the coiled up ropes on it. “He dragged me out here and there was a guy on that table, all tied up. Dino had this guy that worked for him - Marvin Crosby - he was a piece of work. A real twisted guy. Dino made me watch when Marvin put out the guy’s eyes.” Ash’s voice was soft and unhurried when he spoke. “He had a butter knife from the kitchen. I remember, those knives were on the breakfast table every morning. The guy was screaming when Marvin cut up his eyes. He cried and he threw up and there was blood and stuff everywhere. Dino make me watch. Wouldn’t let me turn away. He had a hand on the back of my neck and one hand on my chin so I couldn’t turn away. Told me if I kept acting up, he’d make me stay permanently in the darkness, even if he would be sad to ruin my perfect eyes. Then he found a drug that messed up my eyes for a few hours at a time. He got a real kick out of blinding me without permanently ruining my eyes.”

“Why are you telling me?” As much as Tony respected Ash for having the strength to face what had happened to him head-on, Tony was well aware that trust was not one of Ash’s finer qualities and he had really only known Tony for a few days. It seemed odd that Ash would talk about something so personal when he could have waited until they got back to the Tower and talked to Eiji or Jessica or Ibe-san, someone he really trusted.

“I’m practicing. I have to talk about all this stuff soon. The court date is only a couple of days away. This kind of thing is bound to come up. So, I’m practicing.”

“Right.” Tony was, yet, again, reminded of how terrible he was with people because he had no idea what to say to all that. “I think it’s time for us to leave here. We’ve got all the information, there’s no reason to stay.” Because he really needed to get Ash a good therapist and while Max was a under the weather, it wouldn’t do any harm for Tony to give Jessica a few suggestions with J.A.R.V.I.S.’ help.

Still impassive, still completely controlled, Ash turned and walked out of the torture chamber. He went up a flight of stairs into the mansion above, but once there he didn’t head immediately for the exit as Tony had expected and hoped he would.

“Where are you going?” Tony asked. “Look, I get it if you don’t want to fly back with me, but we can catch a bus and be back at the Tower real soon. You’ll want to see Jessica and Max.”

Ash didn’t answer. The further he went into the mansion, the more purposeful his steps became and Tony, both curious and wary, followed Ash. The whole place wasn’t at all Tony’s taste, but that wasn’t exactly what was wrong with the place. It was just wrong, as if the sins of Golzine lingered in the house, tainting it. All the same, Tony followed Ash. He stopped at a room with a large wooden door and just looked at it before he opened the door with a strange caution. He stepped into the room with the air of someone undertaking some terrible, dangerous mission.

The room, Tony saw when he went in after Ash, was a bedroom. It was immense, as large as some houses. Everything was comfort and luxury from the overstuffed pillows on the bed and heavy down comforter to the colors of the room which had been clearly chosen to create a soothing, relaxing mood, right down to the carpet that was deep and thick. The windows in the room stretched from floor to ceiling, letting in a lot of light. It wasn’t merely a bedroom, but a suite of rooms. There was a sitting room attached and Tony saw through an open door, a large bathroom with marble tiles on the floor. Tony was well-accustomed to wealth and the life that wealth could buy, he had seen far more impressive homes than Golzine’s, but he was aware that to most people it would look like an almost obscene display of money to live in such a place. Golzine clearly enjoyed showing off his wealth.

Ash stood in the middle of the room, then all at once, the calm that had been comfortably settled over him since Tony had finally caught up with him, vanished, like fog in the morning light, and he went ridged with tension. Ash looked quickly around the rooms, his eyes darting this way and that until he finally saw what he had apparently been looking for. He marched into Golzine’s sitting room and threw opened a closet door. There, he pulled out a golf bag holding a dozen different types of golf clubs. Tony didn’t golf, didn’t have any interest in it, but he did know it was generally considered an expensive hobby and guessed that even if Golzine didn’t enjoy the sport, then he would have done it as a way of networking to meet and talk with potential business associates who did golf.

Ash took one of the clubs from golf bag and held it in one hand in such a way that Tony had the distinct impression of a warrior going into battle with his sword. He might have laughed at himself for such a fanciful notion, but then Ash, with no warning at all, raised the club over his shoulder and swung it. It smashed through what looked like a hand-painted table side lamp next to the bed and shards of ceramic went flying in all directions. He stomped to the other side of the bed and repeated the swing, sending more jagged pieces of ceramic everywhere. Tony actually backed away and just stood in the doorway.

“Sir,?” J.A.R.V.I.S. hesitantly said. “I do not understand. Ash has shown no violent tendencies before.”

“You have read his arrest records, haven’t you? Listened to what he says about himself?”

J.A.R.V.I.S, sounding very much like a person might if he had his nose stuck in the air, said, “I do not chose to believe everything I read and Ash has an undeservedly low opinion of himself. I have experienced him being nothing but kind and gentle to all those around him. This is... worrisome.”

Even as J.A.R.V.I.S. said that, Ash went to one of the large windows, hauled back and smashed the golf club right through it. Tony feared, for a moment, that Ash would be hurt because all that shrapnel - all that falling, broken glass - could have killed if a person were struck just right by it. But Ash wasn’t hurt and it looked like he was just getting started. He took his weapon into the bathroom and used it to break everything he could. Mirrors, the sink, the glass doors on the shower - everything was an acceptable target. He went into the sitting room and beat on a coffee table, framed art on the walls, little statues displayed here and there. Finally, Ash went back into the bedroom. There was a dresser in the bedroom, just opposite of the bed and on it, like in so many homes, there were little knickknacks on it along with a gold pocket watch and a bottle of cologne. Ash swung hard, bashing everything off that dresser before he turned to the bed and, while hitting the soft mattress and pillows wasn’t nearly so dramatic as breaking glass, Ash whaled on it. Over and over and over, he hit the bed with so much force that it seemed he was trying to knock it through the floor. On and on, he kept hitting and his face took on the a grimace of such anger that it worried Tony. Ash had been rather good at controlling his emotions, for the most part. There were exceptions of course, like the time when Tony had walked in as Ash was having a little break down and cut off his hair with a pair of kitchen scissors in what Tony had realized was Ash desperately tying to be anything except what Golzine had tried to make him into. Other than that, most of the time, Ash controlled his emotions nearly as well as Bruce did. To see such anger, so fierce and raw and unchained, brought back Tony’s fear that Ash might really be in danger of hurting himself.

But Tony didn’t stop Ash. Didn’t even think about stopping him. He stood there and watched and let Ash beat the bed, wordlessly and savagely. After a good ten minutes of fury and fire, Ash ran out of energy. He stood at the side of the bed and panted for breath. He dropped the golf club and his shoulders slumped. Without apology or any shame or even acknowledging his apparent slip into madness, however temporary, Ash walked out of the room and headed for the front door. 

“Let’s go,” he said when he walked by Tony. “We got to go see how Max is doing. Jessica will be having kittens about now.”

“So, how would you like to go about this? Bus? Train? I can have the helicopter pick us up, but you don’t want to fly with me, so I guess that’s out.”

“Look, it’s not you. I just...” he scratched at the back of his head, as Max did, at times, “It’s the idea that if there’s trouble on an airplane or a helicopter, there’s only one way to escape - down.”

“Well, we’ll work on that. I know some very good people who pilot and talking to them might help you.”

“Not likely. We’ll take the train. It’s faster and I need to see Max.” It wasn’t hard to imagine he was thinking of his brother who’d been so hurt by the drug that was killing Max. 

“Right, we’ll take the train. Let’s go.”

They left the mansion and began to do just that, walking down the long, winding driveway to the street.

Blanca-

Hidden high in one of the trees that surrounded Golzine’s estate, sitting on a sturdy branch, Blanca watched Ash leave the mansion with Tony Stark. There was a face he knew, but most people on the planet would recognize Tony Stark. He had never worked for Stark, as he had worked for many people of similar wealth for one reason or another, but he had heard that the man was indiscreet and perhaps a bit too fond of alcohol. But Ash walked with him and seemed at ease. Blanca knew his precious student well enough to know when Ash was hiding his discomfort and anxiety (Blanca had taught him how to act, after all, though it was one of his least polished skills as he had a tendency to allow true emotion to show through whatever he was meant to be portraying. No one was perfect, after all.) and so he made the preliminary judgment that Tony Stark was, possibly, an acceptable person. Ash did have good instincts when it came to people. Usually.

‘And Natasha is his team mate,’ Blanca thought. Since finding her alive, his thoughts never strayed too far from her. She was alive and worked as an Avenger, living with them in their modern-day castle. He longed to see her, again, to know that she was recovering from the gunshot wound Thema Shehata had given her, but he wouldn’t intrude on her life. It had been like reliving a nightmare to see her on the ground, still and pale after being shot. He’d buried her once... he couldn’t stand in front of her grave a second time. But he had carried her into the shelter of a nearby store when Captain America had his hands full and he had knelt at her side. He had seen her with Ash and his friends just before Gregory had shot Max. She lived. She was strong and healthy and she would live. She didn’t need him.

Blanca stayed in the trees, easily hidden by the shadows cast by the trees and he wondered if Tony Stark, who had lived almost entirely in cities, even considered looking at the trees for hidden enemies. Ash looked around, but he, too, wasn’t so accustomed to hunting or being hunted in the wilderness. Neither noticed Blanca. He’d never once feared they would.

They did notice Gregory.

“What the Hell?” Tony Stark exclaimed when they turned a corner in the long driveway that led from Golzine’s mansion to the main street, and found Gregory, bound and gagged, laying in the middle of the gravel driveway. Blanca had tied Gregory’s wrists together and his ankles together, then gagged him with a necktie. He struggled fiercely, writhing on the ground like a furious worm.

Ash went still, as he so often did. His eyes narrowed and his whole body tensed, as if it were getting ready to spring into action, but Ash’s enemy was powerless. There was no threat. Blanca had taken everything from him, every weapon he had. 

With his nostrils flared and his eyes flashing, Ash looked dangerous, remarkably dangerous to anyone who was smart enough to look beyond his less than threatening physical appearance. He glared down at Gregory. “You shot Max with that stuff. If he dies, it’s your fault.” 

Tony Stark, who may not have been as silly as his reputation would have, didn’t make any sudden moves, but quietly asked, “This is Gregory?”

Ash nodded, curtly. “Yeah. He had the Banana Fish.” There was a subtle, but clear - to Blanca - change in Ash’s posture that very clearly illustrated his next move. He kicked Gregory in the gut, making him grunt and curled up around himself with the pain. “You took Eiji’s clothes and tied to him Dino’s bed, you sick - ”

Tony Stark slipped between Ash and Gregory. “Right! Right, I think we don’t need any more drama today. I just asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to call the police. He said they’ll be here in a few minutes and there are already orders for Gregory to be transported back to New York where your cops friends are waiting for him with a lot of questions.”

More curious than anything, Blanca kept watching to see Ash’s response to finding Gregory, who had done him so wrong, who had hurt Ash’s friends and might have stolen his chance for a new family. Blanca had been tempted to kill Gregory, but there seemed to be a sort of justice in letting Ash do it.

Ash didn’t kill Gregory.

He didn’t so much as drawn his gun. He wanted to, Blanca could see that, but he didn’t. Instead, he stepped back, as if that would take away the temptation to attack, and said, “Fine. Let the cops have him. He doesn’t have the Banana Fish, now, so he’s just another one of Dino’s thugs.” Ash’s eyes softened. “He’s not really that much different than me.”

His soft-hearted student... always so gentle. He had learned to act against his nature, thanks to life and Blanca’s tutelage, but he was still the same sweet boy who’d laughed like an angle when Blanca would do something silly. No matter. Ash could give Gregory to the law, if he saw fit. Blanca would kill Gregory, later. Just to be certain he could never again hurt Ash, of course.

There was a movement below him. Blanca, from his comfortable perch in the tree, looked down and he saw two men standing just under him where they were hidden from Ash and Tony Stark by the overgrowth of shrubbery under the tree line.

“Well?” One man said to the other. “What do you think?” They were watching Ash and Tony Stark stand over Gregory.

“It’s about time. The higher-ups, they’re tired of waiting.”

“I have this under control.”

“The Banana Fish is lost, Sitwell. You said it yourself - that cretin, Gregory, went and wasted it trying to kill that boy.”

“So... it’s gone. That’s hardly any matter. It was only a drug and now that we know such a thing can be made, with a little effort, it can be made, again. The boy is safe, and he is far more important. With his mind, he could make that drug, again. He’s seen it, all the research and the experiments. I’ve seen the reports about him, both from the police and from his current guardians. His intelligence is off the charts and he has a perfect memory. He can recreate all the research he’s seen. But we have to be patient.”

“There no time for that. They want him immediately.”

“That would be a mistake.”

“That’s your problem, Sitwell. You want to be in charge. You aren’t. You’re just a grunt obeying orders like the rest of us. You don’t get to make the calls and you don’t tell the higher-ups that they’re making mistakes. We grab the boy and we get out of the city.”

“He’s surrounded by the Avengers. He’s protected, now. Just wait. In a few weeks all this legal nonsense will fade away and he’ll leave their protection. That would be a far better time to recruit him. And as for grabbing him, that would be a mistake, too. He needs to be convinced, persuaded to work with us. Trying to force him will - ”

“You aren’t listening. Your opinion doesn’t matter. They’ve been waiting for too long, first for Shehata and now for you. They want him and they’ll get him. Convinced? Persuaded?” The man shook his head. “I know now where you get these ideas. This is for his own good and if he’s as smart as you say he is, he’ll understand that in time. By working for HYDRA, he’ll have safety and security, never have to wonder where his next meal is coming from. He should be thanking us.” He turned and started to walk away from where Ash stood with Tony Stark. 

Sitwell followed and angrily muttered to himself, “This is a bad idea.”

Blanca watched them both go, then looked at Ash, then at where the two men had disappeared into the forest. He could still faintly hear their footsteps. He looked and he listened and he considered what he knew of the whole situation. The turbulence Ash was determined to stir up in the world, the savage attack on little Sing, Natasha shot - falling. They were dangerous and they wanted Ash. From his vantage point, he could see the main road outside Golzine’s estate and he watched as the two men got into a waiting car and drove off. He sat back, resting his back against the tree he sat in as he thought about what to do about what he’d heard. Ash wouldn’t want to work for HYDRA, he knew. He knew that because he knew what Ash wanted to do for a living, where he wanted to spend the rest of his life.

To Be Continued...


	46. Going Home

Chapter 46: Going Home

The Avengers’ Tower -  
Phil-

Phil sat with Jessica at Max’s bedside and it was far, far too much like when he’d once sat with Max at Griffin’s bedside, when Griffin had been so hurt by the Banana Fish. He could almost hear Griffin’s steady breathing, even as Max’s chest move up and down with every breath and it was nearly too much. He had lost friends in war, of course he had. But this was different. This was no battle where people fought for what they believed was right, it was no brave stand against a feared enemy. It was a drug, delivered in such a cowardly way, and there was no way to fight against it. Even with all Bruce’s experience and education, with all the state-of-the-art medical equipment Tony had equipped the infirmary with because if he was going to have an infirmary, then it was sure to be the best, all that could be done was hold off the end, try to prevent what they all feared would happen. The idea of Max doing what Griffin had done, picking up a weapon and attacking his friends, his loved ones, was too terrible to think of.

Phil’s phone began to ring and, to avoid disturbing Jessica with what he was sure was a business call, Phil went to Bruce’s office to answer it. He looked at the screen and saw J.A.R.V.I.S.’ name. Once he was alone in Bruce’s office he said, “J.A.R.V.I.S., why are you calling my phone?”

“I was unsure if this news would disturb Jessica. Natasha just contacted me and requested an armored car to bring herself and Eiji back to the Tower.”

Phil instantly went to attention and his mind flashed to every terrible thing that might have happened. “Did she give a reason?” She’d been hurt. Something had happened that had aggravated Natasha’s wound so grievously that she didn’t feel up to the job of protecting herself and Eiji while they were out - she didn’t feel safe. So, she’d called for an armored car. It was wise, but worrisome. For Natasha to be so badly wounded that she would willingly ask for a car to be sent for her... ‘She’s dying!’ Phil felt a rush of panic and terror. Natasha never admitted weakness. The only reason they’d been able to get her to a hospital for surgery after she’d been shot was because she’d been unconscious. If she had been awake, she probably would have tried to take the bullet out herself and then reassure everyone that she’d just ‘sleep it off’. She had tried that twice and not one person on the team had appreciated it.

What if she’d been attacked? What if her wound had gotten infected and no one had noticed and he kicked himself for not paying better attention because he knew - he KNEW! - she didn’t take good care of herself.

“She did not, though she said she will explain when she arrives.”

“I’ll go pick her up.” Without waiting any longer, he left the office and started for the door, but Jessica, who must have seen his upset asked,

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m sure it’s nothing. Please, don’t worry.”

But her eyes had narrowed and she stood up. “Don’t lie right to my face. What’s going on?”

“I’m sure it really is nothing, but Natasha and Eiji left the Tower and now Natasha has asked for a car to fetch them. Natasha doesn’t like to ask for help with anything. She wouldn’t have called for a car without reason. But I will take care of it.”

“Not without me you won’t.” Jessica bent over and kissed Max on the forehead. “I’ll be back in a bit, dear.” Then she called out, “Doctor Banner, you look after him. I’ll be back as soon as I figure out what’s going on with my sister and my nephew.”

It seemed cruel to take Jessica away from Max at such a time, so Phil, even as Jessica marched out of the room, said, “I’m sure you don’t want to leave Max. I can have Natasha and Eiji back here in minutes.”

“And I can see that they’re alright in half that time if you don’t argue with me. Max trusts you and your people so I’ll trust that your people will take care of my family. I only just got my sister back. Don’t ask me to sit back when she might be hurt.” She paused only a moment at the apartment she’d been sharing with her family and that was only to grab her purse and kiss Michael on the top of the head. “I’m going out for a little while, honey. You be good and listen to Mister Barton.”

“Yes, mommy.”

Both Michael and Peter were covered in glitter while colorful pictures done in crayon, paint, and markers were hung all around the room. Not one of the pictures had any glitter on it, so Phil wasn’t entirely sure what they’d been doing. As Phil and Jessica walked out of the room, he heard Clint say, “Right, that’s enough art time, I think. Who wants to make cookies?”

Phil drove while Jessica, stony and intent on the road ahead, sat next to him in the passenger seat. The armored car looked like a large van from the outside. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about it. But it could withstand quite a bit of damage, so he was confidant that no matter what the trouble was, he would be able to keep everyone safe.

“Thank you.” Jessica spoke softly. “For taking care of Natasha.”

“Well, she’s an important part of the team.”

“No. It’s more than that. I’ve done a little research about your Avengers. I see how you treat her. I know you saved her, gave her a place and a home. I see how you look out for her. It’s good. I lost her so long ago, but it helps to know she’s been taken care of.”

“I wish I could have done more for her.”

“You and your team do a lot more than most people would have. I see how you’re all sensitive and careful with certain subjects around her and how worried everyone was when she was in the hospital. I don’t even know her.” She swallowed hard and turned to look out the window beside her so Phil couldn’t see her face. “She was my darling baby sister. She used to love turtles. Did you know that? She had a picture book about turtles and she’d carry it everywhere so she could look at the pictures. I don’t even know her, now.” Then she whipped her head around and all her fierceness surged into her pale eyes. “But she’s still my sister, so you’d better keep treating her well or I’ll convince her that she should come live with our family! I’m sure Michael and Ash would like to have an aunt around.”

He had no doubt that she would take action if she thought her family wasn’t well looked after. “I promise, with all my honor, I will look out for Natasha so long as she needs me.”

They arrived at Natasha’s location in good time. Not one of the nicer parts of Chinatown. It was the sort of neighborhood where many people would think twice about walking down the sidewalk alone. The building J.A.R.V.I.S. directed them to was nondescript. There was nothing about it that stood out from its neighbors. Dirty windows, crumbling bricks, bars on windows... it was a depressing sight. But Eiji popped his head out the door and called out, “We’re here.” He might have said more, but Natasha’s hand darted out and grabbed him by the shoulder, dragging him back inside the building.

Jessica wasted no time going to them, but Phil did a quick check of the area as he walked to the building. There were plenty of people around, but there were no obvious threats. Inside the building, Jessica gave Eiji a hug, then turned her attention on Natasha. 

“You don’t look any more hurt than the last time I saw you. What happened? Do you need to go back to the hospital? Did someone hurt you?”

Natasha blinked at the questions and, for a moment, seemed lost. Then she steeled herself and curtly said, “I am fine. Phil, he has the Banana Fish.” She pointed at Eiji, almost accusingly. “That was why he ran out of the Tower so quickly. I came with him here. There is a person he calls ‘Doctor Meredith’ upstairs and he had it. I suspect he is an unlicensed doctor. According to them, Ash left a sample of the Banana Fish with Doctor Meredith to be analyzed when he first came into possession of it and while Golzine managed to retake it, Doctor Meredith had kept a small sample of it aside.”

Eiji, with a bright smile, pulled a tiny glass bottle from out of his coat pocket and held it up. The white power inside seemed unnecessarily ominous. “I forgot he had it until now. It’s been here all this time and I think this will help Max.” He turned his big, hopeful eyes on Jessica. “Won’t it?”

The Banana Fish. Phil put his hand around Eiji’s, concealing the bottle and its’ contents from anyone who might pass by. No wonder Natasha had called for an armored vehicle to get them all home. She wasn’t injured or even feeling threatened, she was worried that if anyone realized what Eiji had they would surely be attacked by any HYDRA agents in the city or anyone one of the many people Golzine had been working with on his little project. From what Ash had told them and from all the research Max had shown him, Phil knew that anyone who controlled the Banana Fish had a great deal of power and there were people in the world who would have done a great deal to have that power. So he tried to smile at Eiji. “Let’s keep that hidden away, shall we?” He considered telling Eiji to put it back in his pocket, but instantly changed his mind. Instead, he took the bottle from Eiji and put it in his own pocket. If anyone was going to be attacked, then it was better him than Eiji.

Jessica put a hand on Eiji’s shoulder. “I’m sure Doctor Banner will be able to use it. Thank you so much for remembering.”

In the car, Phil put the bottle in a lock box. It was something rather like a small glove compartment that had been built in such a way that even if the car were to get in a terrible crash and catch on fire, even if the vehicle managed to explode, nothing in that lock box would be at all disturbed. It was locked with a fingerprint ID scanner, so only Phil or Tony or J.A.R.V.I.S. could open it. It was one of the best places to put the Banana Fish. The only better place would be in the Tower, in Bruce’s hands.

Phil sat in the driver’s seat with Natasha next to him while Jessica and Eiji sat in the back seat.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Phil asked Natasha. “I don’t like that you went running around the city without a partner so soon after your operation. You must be a little kinder to yourself.”

“I am fine.” Natasha leaned close and whispered, “Why did Jessica come? She asked a lot of questions.”

“She was worried about you. I think she’s just very happy to have her sister back.”

The look of confusion on Natasha’s face, mixed with a softness that Phil didn’t think Natasha got to show often enough, was heart warming. Perhaps Natasha liked having a sister, too.

Before Phil could even turn the vehicle on, J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke through the speakers on the vehicle’s dashboard. “Phil, before you return to the Tower, I think you ought to know about another development.”

Phil breathed deeply and did not allow the stress of the moment, knowing that there was such a wildly dangerous target in the vehicle with them, distract him. He was a professional and there was no reason at all to behave as if the world were falling down. Just because one of his oldest friends was dying, the whole world seemed set on taking out a teenager who was wildly self-sacrificing to the point of having no regard for his own well-being, one of his team mates had been shot... no. He was a professional, so he calmly answered J.A.R.V.I.S. with, “And what development might that be?”

“Sir has found Ash.”

Eiji, of course, didn’t let Ash’s name be mentioned without saying something, so he leaned into the front seat, between Phil and Natasha, and asked, “What? Where is he? Is he alright?”

Jessica pulled Eiji back into his seat with a gentle reprimand, “Don’t get yourself worked up.”

“Ash is well,” J.A.R.V.I.S. answered. “At least, sir did not mention any serious injuries. Sir has asked me to inform all that he has recently sent the research information about The Banana Fish drug back to the Tower. Bruce is currently reading through it, in the hopes of finding useful information in making a cure. Sir has also asked me to inform you that Gregory Dufort has been found.”

And that was like a weight off Phil’s shoulders. One more killer off Ash’s trail. They could have him safely locked up and out of the way until Ash’s court appearance was over and done with and then deal with his involvement in the whole situation because, from what Phil had learned and deduced, Gregory had played a rather large part in Golzine’s criminal empire. Ash hadn’t gone into too many details about Gregory Dufort when he’d told the camera about his time living under Golzine’s thumb, but he’d been there during Ash’s captivity and he’d held a position of power as Golzine’s bodyguard. He knew. He knew what Golzine had done to Ash and countless other children and he had done nothing.

“And where are they?”

“New Jersey. Outside of one of Golzine’s mansions. Sir has told me that they found Gregory Dufort there.”

Eiji whispered, in a voice filled with dread, “Ash went to Golzine’s mansion? On purpose? But...” Eiji’s voice trailed away. “I need to see him. Please? Can we go get them?” Eiji looked between Phil and Jessica. “It’s very important.”

It was important. They needed to get Ash back where they could protect him, but Phil didn’t want to drag the Banana Fish drug all over the place. It was too dangerous and Bruce really need to start working with it as soon as possible for Max’s sake.

“J.A.R.V.I.S., please ask Steve to bring a vehicle out to us. Have him take one of the bigger ones. You’ll need to give him directions so he can find us.” Once J.A.R.V.I.S. had done what Phil had asked him to do, Phil looked at Natasha. “You will ride back in this vehicle with Steve and take the Banana Fish to Bruce. I will take the vehicle Steve brings to us and use it to take Jessica and Eiji to where Tony and Ash are and then I’ll bring them all home. I know you’re still hurt and I’m sorry to have to ask you to do this, but you’ll need to guard it. There shouldn’t be any problem, no one should know that we have it, but I don’t want you taking any chances, either.”

Natasha nodded, briskly, her short hair bobbing around her face, and immediately pulled out a gun from under her coat. She held it loosely on her lap with the comfort Phil was used to seeing from her when she had a weapon in her hands. “I will not fail.”

Fifteen minutes later, Steve arrived. There was little time for explanations as both Jessica and Eiji were eager to get to Ash. When they went from the armored vehicle to the one Steve had brought, Jessica paused only for a moment. She gave Natasha’s arm a gentle squeeze. “Take care of yourself.” Then she got into the other vehicle and she and Eiji waited for Phil. After telling Natasha to brief Steve, Phil got into the other vehicle and they were off.

New Jersey wasn’t all that far away.

With J.A.R.V.I.S. giving them directions, they reached Golzine’s mansion in good time. The whole town seemed to be a gallery of mansions. Golzine had picked an area where his own lavish tastes wouldn’t draw attention. Every house they passed was huge and surrounded by beautiful gardens. The only difference between all the other houses and Golzine’s, was that Golzine’s mansion was far more isolated. There were no neighbors in sight and there was a massive iron fence surrounding the property.

Phil pulled the vehicle into the driveway and, well out of sight of the road, they found Tony and Ash, waiting for them. The both of them looked up when they saw the vehicle. When Phil finally stopped the vehicle, Eiji was the first one out and he went as fast as he could to Ash with Jessica close behind. Their reunion was a warm sight, smiles from all and a hug from Eiji while Jessica gave Ash a pat on the arm. He watched them, taking close note of Ash’s condition. He seemed pale, but there was no outward sign that his wounds had reopened. He was tired, but given how he’d run from them and had deliberately thrown himself right into the place where many of his traumas might have originated, Phil thought that Ash was probably entitled to feeling a bit off.

Once he was assured that they were all reasonably well, he focused his mind on the business at hand and motioned for Tony to follow him a short distance away. Once they were far enough away that he didn’t think anyone would overhear them, he asked Tony, “Where’s Gregory?”

“The police came and took him away. J.A.R.V.I.S. said they have orders to get him to New York where Captain Jenkins is waiting for him with some questions. He was just... there.” Tony gestured to the spot in the driveway where they’d found Gregory. “We walked around a curve in the driveway and he was laying there. Someone left him there. Someone knew we were here. There are plenty of places to hide out here, it’s all forest.” He looked decidedly unhappy and it was that unhappy face he made when he was unhappy with himself. “You should have brought Clint. He’s a much better hunter than I am and I can’t go through those thick trees here any easier than I could back at Central Park when we went to find Ash and Hulk. If anyone’s still out there, they’ll be scared off by the noise of the Iron Man suit before we can get even close to them.”

“I sincerely hope you’re not apologizing because you didn’t know this would happen.” Phil couldn’t resist shaking his head at Tony. “You can’t read the future and no one expects you to. Would Clint be better suited to hunting through a forest? Yes, but you were better suited to finding Ash and that was the objective of this particular mission. Was there any trouble?”

“No.” He held up the metal suitcase. “We saved it in case you wanted it, but all the information already went back to Bruce, so I expect he’s working on it as we speak. We were going to take a train home, but I’m not sure that’s such a great idea. I’m pretty recognizable and we don’t need to have people gawking at him just because he’s near me, so I thought it might be safer to wait for you. This is a serious situation, if you ask me. Someone lurking around out there was able to catch Dufort when the combined forces of S.H.I.E.L.D., law enforcement, and Ash’s gangs couldn’t. I would really like to know who’s doing this and why.”

“And that’s why you’re still wearing the Iron Man suit. Just in case this person is still around and is more dangerous than they seem to be.” Phil, as casually as he could, turned in a circle. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary and he didn’t hear anything that raised any alarm bells. “Any ideas?”

“Not a one. But someone got to him and didn’t kill him. They left him here, helpless, like they wanted to see what we’d do with him.”

Phil chanced a glance at Ash. “Maybe not what you would do with him, but what Ash would do with him. Someone helped him out before. Someone shot those two killers in Chinatown when they attacked the Chang Dai restaurant and someone killed Thema Shehtata when she shot Peter and Natasha, though I’m sure I can hazard a guess and presume that they might have been aiming at Ash just as much as anyone. Natasha has her own share of enemies, but Ash’s enemies seem to be the more immediate threat.”

“I would really like to know who it is and I think Ash knows.” Tony didn’t look at Ash when he said that and kept his voice light. “He’s too smart NOT to know who might want to help him out like this.”

Phil went to Ash and asked, “Are you alright?”

Ash nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m good. How’s Max?”

“No change,” Jessica told him. “No change at all. But if he knew you came here,” she spared the mansion behind them a disdainful look. “He would be hopping mad. What were you thinking? Are you sure you’re alright? You need to tell people what you’re doing. You shouldn’t have had to come here alone...”

“Spare me the lecture, Old Woman,” Ash told her. “I know what you’re going to say. Everyone was busy with Max. What am I gonna do? Stop people from taking care of him so they can go get something to take care of him? You gotta trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

Jessica put a fist on one hip and narrowed her eyes. “Trust you? Trust you?! You keep running away when we just want to help you and you don’t tell anyone what you’re doing. I know that probably worked real well for you when you were on your own, but you aren’t on your own now! You have people to depend on. Eiji gave me that paper, son-of-mine!”

Ash tucked his hands in his pockets and half turned away from her. “Well, don’t get all mushy about it. It doesn’t really mean anything. I only did it ‘cause Michael wanted me to.” His voice was flat when he said, “If you changed your mind, you can just rip it up. Stupid piece of paper...”

Jessica snorted and put her nose in the air. “Don’t get any bright ideas! That paper’s going to be framed and hung on the living room wall. You didn’t answer me. Did you get hurt?” Her face softened. “And coming to a place like this... it must have been so hard.”

Eiji stared at the mansion and said to Ash, “It looks like the other one. The one you wrecked.” He seemed to want to say more, but stopped and gave Ash a weak smile, as if to say, ‘I’m alright. Don’t worry. Everything’s fine.’

“Gregory got arrested. I almost killed him ‘cause of what he did to you.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Eiji answered. “I wouldn’t like that. I don’t want you to kill for me. Letting the police handle it is much better. I’m glad he’s in jail. Sometimes, I still think about... you know. That time.”

When no one said anything further on the subject, Phil made a mental note to talk to Eiji, privately. He wasn’t entirely certain what had happened to him, but it was clear that something disturbing had happened and if Eiji needed therapy, too, then that could be arranged.

Much as Phil hated to hurry people along during such moments, the fact that someone was lurking around and had decided to leave the reportedly dangerous Gregory Dufort for them didn’t make Phil at all comfortable. It was all too likely, he thought, that the person who’d left Gregory for them had been following Ash and had left Gregory as a gift. “I think we should leave our reunion for in the car, if you three don’t mind. It’s time to go back before anything else happens.” Phil looked around. “Whoever is out there is a real threat.”

Ash shrugged, “Don’t worry about that. It’s no big deal and they did me a favor. Just ignore it. With Gregory caught, this shouldn’t happen, again.”

It wasn’t the sort of thing that could be ignored.

In the vehicle, Phil took the passenger seat while Tony, after sending the Iron Man suit home to J.A.R.V.I.S., drove. It gave Phil a good opportunity to listen to the three in the backseat.

Eiji excitedly told Ash all about retrieving the Banana Fish drug from Doctor Meredith and how they’d waited for Phil to arrive because Natasha had thought it was too dangerous to walk back to the Tower with it.

“Well, yeah.” Phil could practically hear Ash rolling his eyes. “What if you got mugged? You limping with your cane and her being a small woman... the two of you don’t have the most threatening appearance. Someone might have attacked you.”

Eiji shrugged it off with a very confidant, “I am very much better and Natasha is fierce! Anyone who attacks her would regret it.”

Phil smiled at Eiji’s praise for Natasha. It was always good to hear people appreciating his team, even if he wasn’t entirely sure that it was so true at the moment. Natasha was amazing, but she was still human and had gotten out of surgery so recently that she was vulnerable to so much... not the least of which was some lucky blow reopening her wound or a tiny bit of dirt in that wound giving her an infection. While it was true that she had worked in far worse condition, that didn’t mean Phil or his team were going to be so reckless with her life.

A sharp ring caught everyone’s attention. It was Phil’s phone and a glance at the screen told him that it was Nick Fury, which really didn’t surprise him. Fury had a lot of contacts everywhere and the news that Gregory Dufort had finally been captured would have caught his attention at once.

When he answered his phone, Nick Fury’s voice was, as it always was, tense. “I have recently been informed that Stark has dealt with a situation in New Jersey, a situation which has added complications to the Club Cod matter. I also understand that when the police arrived, they found Stark with a teenage boy who didn’t have much to say other than he didn’t know how Gregory Dufort ended up hog-tied in the driveway of a mansion he just happened to be visiting. Why were they there? In another state? Phil, I trust you to the end of the Earth, but I did think you were going to keep a closer eye on Mister Lynx.”

“I would like to see anyone do better than my team.” Phil sniffed because he knew that no one S.H.I.E.L.D. had to offer could do a better job looking after Ash. “Tell me what you know and I’ll fill in the blanks.”

“As law enforcement has been kind enough to keep us informed about the major goings-on about this matter, I have learned that a call was made to the local police in New Jersey where Dino Golzine had one of his mansions. When officers arrived, they found Iron Man and a teenage boy, Ash Lynx, with a man bound and gagged. The teenager told them that the tied up man was Gregory Dufort, one of Dino Golzine’s employees. When questioned at the scene, Gregory Dufort began to rant and rave. He made three attempts to get at Ash Lynx. Gregory Dufort is being transferred to the police station in New York that is dealing with the Club Cod matter. Is there anything else I should know?”

“I already told you that Ash ran off after Max was poisoned and I sent Tony after him. Golzine’s mansion is apparently where they ended up. I have them now and everyone’s safe. I suppose you should know that we now have a sample of the Banana Fish.”

Fury went quiet. “What?”

“We have a sample of the Banana Fish. One of our guests, Okumura Eiji, remembered that when Ash first discovered it, he gave a sample to a doctor he knew and asked him to analyze it. Turns out that doctor still had a bit left and now we have it. Bruce is studying it right now, unless I miss my guess.” He could almost see Fury reaching for his stress ball.

“I would like to see the results of that study when he’s finished. Any other information for me? Your friend?”

“No change since the last time we spoke. He’s still being cared for. Now that we have Ash’s research along with the research done by the various scientists who’d developed the Banana Fish and the Banana Fish itself, I’m sure his chances of recovery have greatly increased. Are there any other worrisome developments we should know about?”

“No. Everything’s being dealt with. You just deliver the boy to the courthouse on the appropriate date. This whole business of HYDRA being in the city has not made me happy.” He nearly growled out that last word. “They haven’t done much of anything but look for that teacher of Mister Lynx’s and hurt an innocent boy. I have the distinct impression that there are still quite a few of them out there.”

“My people will make sure he gets to his court date. On another note, how are the investigations going into our own people? Any trouble?” The news of Thema Shehata’s true allegiance had been more than a little disturbing for all who’d found out about it and, as rumors ran through S.H.I.E.L.D. like water through a sieve, everyone had heard about it. If more HYDRA agents were found in their midst, it wouldn’t be good for moral, but they needed to be able to trust everyone working for them. His mind flew to Jasper Sitwell and how he did seem to be popping up suspiciously often when Ash was around. “Has anyone questionable been found?”

Fury chuckled and when he spoke there was clear satisfaction in his voice. “Not a one. We’ve gone through everyone by now and we haven’t found anyone with any connections to HYDRA or any other dangerous group.”

Phil sagged a little in his seat and closed his eyes as relief ran through him. He felt a large weight of tension get lifted off his back at Fury’s words. “Right. We’re about back at the Tower. I’ll keep you informed about conditions.”

“Take care of yourself.” And Fury hung up. He hung up just in time for Phil to hear Ash say, 

“Sitwell was at the mansion.”

Tony frowned, but didn’t take his eyes off the road. He was far too good of a driver to do that. “You didn’t say anything before.”

“Yeah, well, you showed up, too. If you found me, why wouldn’t any other people from your group?”

Tony let out a funny sound that was half-way between a bark and a laugh. “I am NOT part of S.H.I.E.L.D., for your information. I am a apart of the Avengers!”

“Right. Well, my point is, there’s no reason he wouldn’t find me. You said you people had your agents out looking for Gregory? Well, Sitwell told me that he’d run into him and convinced him to tell him where the metal suitcase was.” Ash looked down at the battered, dented metal suitcase that he held securely on his lap. “He went to the mansion to find it, but wasn’t able to.” He paused and that pause went on for so long that Phil looked over his shoulder at Ash. Ash was staring at his fingers clasped on the top of the metal suitcase. He said, without looking away from his hands. “He had a picture of my mom.”

Jessica looked at Ash sharply and Eiji, whom Phil suspected knew a great deal more about everything than he let on, said, “What? How? Even you don’t know who your mom is. Not before Doctor Banner told you about you and Jessica and Natasha being related. How could he know?”

“I could find out.” Tony surprised everyone but Phil and Ash by answering. Ash didn’t look at all surprised. Tony continued, “With J.A.R.V.I.S. I can find out just about anything. If I’d known you were looking for her, I could have had J.A.R.V.I.S. set to work and we could have found her. I can ask him to start looking now, if you want.”

Ash looked out the window. “No. She left. I don’t care about her. But you should find out for Jessica and Natasha. They’ll want to know where she is.”

Jessica shook her head and her long, blonde hair swung easily around her face. “Ash... you’re too sweet, you little Brat.”

“Shut up, Old Woman.”

Elsewhere-  
Sitwell-

Plans were being made to take control of the young genius, Ash Lynx, and Sitwell was not included. He listened as his companion made plans with those he was working with and Sitwell disagreed entirely. There was no reason to act so rashly, no reason to do this the hard way. He knew he could persuade Ash Lynx to join HYDRA with time and patience, but it had been determined by his superiors that he’d failed.

“You have shown yourself to be nearly as incompetent as Thema Shehata,” Sitwell had been told over a video conference between himself and his superiors. “You have lost the Banana Fish and you have been unable to find the research. Now, we will take what is the left - Ash Lynx. He was with Golzine almost the entire time that Banana Fish was being developed. He may know some of the secrets to recreating it.”

They were going to fail. Sitwell had no doubt, no doubt at all. But he had bowed his head and apologized humbly before he’d been dismissed. No matter. His fellow HYDRA operatives would fail and, when they did, he would still be safely within the ranks of S.H.I.E.L.D. where he could do his work and bide his time. A day, a week, a year - it didn’t matter to him. Ash would be there and, given time, he would win Ash over. So long as he didn’t get unexpectedly exposed as a double agent in some terribly inconvenient situation.

To Be Continued...


End file.
